The thrill of getting out of my comfort zone

Remember a moment in your life in which you could feel your pulse pound uncontrollably? Remember the feeling of accomplishment and empowerment when this moment has passed? The adrenaline, the raw, uncontrollable emotion, and subsequent realization of the feat you have just achieved? How much time has passed since the last time you have felt this way? For me, too much.

This emotions, are tightly knit with getting out of one’s comfort zone. We are a host of our experiences, and how they have impacted us, nevertheless, we have the surprising easiness of falling back into autopilot. I continually find myself in this crossroad, and the worst of it all, is that if I don’t make a conscious effort to realize it, I normalize this feeling.

As we carry on with our daily lives, we forget the value and our need for these experiences. The same job, the same bar, the same talks, the same people, the same city.

We don’t need to spend money traveling to other countries, or spend time looking for new friends. In fact, I would argue the best thing we can do is follow our interests. We live in a world that penalizes the difference, we have to strive to be so. As this is what makes us unique.

We have to go out of our way to speak with different people, follow our interests up until the point when we face the edge of our comfort zone. This is easily identifiable, it is our mind telling us: “Don’t speak with this person, they will think you are X”, “Don’t do this, you fail”. Once we have identified this, we have to make the conscious effort to break this barrier, to prove to us we can, in fact, speak to strangers, learn another language, speak out, question ourselves.

The subsequent feeling of achievement is very gratifying.

As we practice this, we are developing bigger, and bigger comfort zones, growing, and learning from our experiences. We become less frustrated, and more fulfilled. Less inhibited and more free. Less inexperienced, and more outgoing.