There’s a saying that “life happens outside your comfort zone”. Since I’ve spent a good bit of my life both in and out of my comfort zone at various times, I have to say I agree with that saying. I’ve steadily moved outside my comfort zone in a number of ways, most of which I think will be permanent rather than just temporary as they’ve often been in the past.
As with many changes I’ve made in the past few years, I’ve gradually taken steps out of my comfort zone and into uncharted territory (uncharted for me, at least). I’ve benefited a lot from making small changes and winning small victories that over time have resulted in big successes. The changes have been big enough that I can see a difference but small enough to allow me time to adjust without feeling overwhelmed; this has been critical to my success as I have quit many things in the past because I took on more than I could handle and got burnt out. Keeping the changes manageable has allowed me to gradually progress and level up in ways I previously never thought possible.
Although I think it’s important to step outside your comfort zone, I also think that the comfort zone has value and should be visited once in a while. Sometimes returning to something that’s familiar and soothing can be useful for resuming your regular routine after returning from big adventures, or perhaps just recovering from the stresses of daily life and sharpening the saw. Also, because there’s a great deal of familiarity in your comfort zone, you might find something in it that can be useful when learning something new. Personally, I have found returning to my comfort zone useful both for sharpening the saw and learning new things, so I make regular visits to it for those purposes.
I could fill a whole blog post with all the things I’ve done by stepping outside my comfort zone and how those things have benefited me. Many of them, such as taking a road trip halfway across the country a few years ago, taught me important lessons even if I didn’t appreciate the lessons or the way I learned them at the time. Others, like my trip to Classic City Swing 7 last year, were pure joy from beginning to end. From organizing several events to vastly improving my communication and socialization skills to many other things that I can’t even recall at the moment, my life is much different and much better now for stepping into the unknown and trying a lot of new things. The comfort zone is good for occasional visits, but don’t stay there too long or you’ll miss out on all the amazing things life has to offer.