Comfort Zone

"If you stay in your comfort zone, you'll always stay in your comfort zone."          ~Cira Wise 

If this flower can get out of its comfort zone certainly you can too.

Writing this blog is an incredibly uncomfortable exercise for me... and that's actually a good thing.

I've kept a journal and had countless conversations about these topics for years. But that was all behind closed doors. Publishing my thoughts on this website is a whole new ballgame.

Before I started this blog I knew two things would happen:

1. Posting these ideas for public consumption (and scrutiny) would make me uncomfortable.
   
2. Getting out of my comfort zone is really the best way for me to grow in life.

We all gravitate towards comfort. We follow patterns in our daily lives because they're familiar--we keep morning and evening rituals, we shop at the same stores, eat the same types of food, stick to a certain brand, visit our favorite websites, watch the same TV shows year after year, repeat the same types of exercise.

When something is familiar it's just easier--you know what to expect.

The unfamiliar on the other hand, is risky. You might hate it, or fail, or make a bad decision. When you do something unfamiliar you make yourself vulnerable.

But with the risk of the unknown also comes a lesson. What if it turns out the other store is more your style, a different news website is more balanced, or that other workout is more your speed? What if you do fail, but through that experience you learn how to avoid that failure in the future?

If you stick with what you already know, you'll never learn anything new.
If you repeat the same patterns, you'll never think outside the box.
If you assume you know exactly who you are, you'll never grow to be all you can possibly be.

I got out of my comfort zone by starting this blog and sharing a piece of myself with you on a weekly basis. It's made me nervous, but I know that as I overcome those nerves it's making me stronger.

What new possibilities are you avoiding right now to stay comfortable? What are you going to do right now to get out of your comfort zone so you can finally move forward?