I am the first to admit, I am pretty comfortable in my comfort zone. I really had not given this much thought, until yesterday, while coaching my girls on the run team. Our lesson was about comfort zones and how to stretch them. I learned a lot about myself from listening to them talk about what makes them uncomfortable.
Comfort Zones
Having the naivety of an 11 year old girl affords you some leeway on where you feel comfortable and what causes you stress. My 6th grade girls were not afraid to try snowboarding, ride roller coasters or fly on planes. What did they worry about? Going to middle school, reciting in front of their class and making new friends. We talked about the feelings associated with staying in your comfort zone: happiness, ease, familiarity. In addition, the feelings that go along with stretching your limits: anxiety, fear and stress.
I realized through the course of our discussion that I happily spend most of my time in my own comfort zone. I mean, who would choose not to be comfortable? Well, lots of people apparently. I read other runners accounts of how they push themselves way out of their physical comfort zones. I see facebook posts of people jumping out of airplanes or swimming with sharks. I am so not a swim with sharks kind of person.
Over the past year or so, I have been working on stepping out of my comfort zone (a bit). Last summer, I flew to Chicago to meet up with a bunch of running blogger friends that I had never met in person. That, is something I never would have done previously. I signed up for an adult Bat Mitzvah class that I’ve been participating in for the last 4 months. Learning Hebrew and working towards being able to read from the Torah is something I never thought I would do.
When one of my girls asked me, “what is out of your comfort zone”? I came up with a list of a few situations that definitely make me anxious. High buildings, flying on small planes, running on trails, running at night and snorkeling to name a few. This summer, I am going to make a conscious effort to push myself out of my comfort zone and attempt to experience some of those very things.
I thank my girls on the run team for challenging me to think outside of my own comfort zone. When is the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried something new? What’s one thing that is way out of your comfort zone? Something you wish you had the nerve to try?
Linking up Fairytales and Fitness
You know I’m all about pushing myself hard, but this year my health has pushed back. That’s scary and I’ve retreated back to the comfort zone for a while. I’m sure I’ll push again once I start feeling better, but it will be gradual. I don’t want to feel this badly again!
No I am sure you don’t want to feel like this again. I tend to stay in my comfort zone in other areas of my life as well but my girls kind of challenged me to step out of it
I like my comfort zone too, but I also make efforts to get out of it. My trail half. My 18 Mile race. Heck, just racing way back when! Becoming a WW leader many years ago — it ended up only being for a year because we moved to a different state. Soon I’ll be embarking on something that will definitely be out of my comfort zone, which I’ll share . . . eventually.
Good job going after your Bar Mitzvah! My SIL did that & shared it with her daughter’s Bar Mitzvah.
I was Bat Mitzvah’d as a kid. Which was all that was available to girls then.
Yes I never did it as a teen so I am excited about this journey that I am now.
I think it can be easy to get stuck in the comfort zone. You get in a routine that works and are completely happy and don’t even realize how much more joy you can find by pushing past it. I’m not of fan of large social gatherings (and by large I mean more than 2 people. LOL) so I tend to stay home, watch Netflix in my PJS staying in my comfort zone. When I do push myself to go out to a social event I always end up having a great time and wonder what I must have missed all the times I avoided them.
Anyway, my sister is entering 6th grade this year, anxious about going into middle school. She will be pushed out of her comfort zone for sure.
That is the grade that I coach and yes they can have a lot of anxiety and insecurity. She is lucky to have an older brother to come to for advice
I would like to sky dive…but in tandem with a well-trained mentor LOL It’s great that you do so much work with all those girls. What a fabulous role model you are!!!
Thanks! I really do enjoy working with them. I have done indoor sky diving and loved it but no way I am jumping out of an airplane!
This is a great reminder to get out of our comfort zones. I think it’s so cool you signed up the learn Hebrew!
Cool and scary at the same time!
GOTR has such a wonderful curriculum – it not only gets girls up and moving, it teaches them so much about themselves and their body image. I am a big fan. Thinking about your comfort zone is a great thing to do. Heights of any kind, but especially ski lifts are way out of my comfort zone.
I love the Curriculum and yes I do think it really helps give them some confidence when they need it most. Heights totally scare me! I am going to work on that
I have been trying to do more of this myself. I do try to push myself physically, but also, 2 years ago I went out of the country. I left the USA. Which I never thought would happen because up until that point, I was literally scared to death of airplanes. Watching the huge jets at O’Hare before we left really gave me so much anxiety. I knew that God wanted me to go on this missions trip, which is why I was there. He had made the way, so I just clung to that as we boarded. Once we took off , I laughed at myself for being so scared! It was a breeze.
After that I know I can push myself out of my comfort zone for a lot of other things in my life!
That’s fantastic that you were able to overcome your fear of flying! That is a big one. I am so afraid of heights and small airplanes. Something I plan to work on
That is SO true that 6th graders are willing to do physical things that would cause us older generation anxiety but yet their anxiety stems from making a speech in front of the class or even trying to find a seat in the lunch room!
Perhaps as adults we “think” about things too much, and realize “yea, that makes me uncomfortable”!…lol
Thanks for linking up!
We sure can overthink things!
Ohh this is such a good post! I feel we focus so much on staying in our comfort zones!
I have also been thinking about things I want to do differently to get my out of my comfort zone with doing more intense things to make a bigger difference in my life and help me reach even more goals!
So cool that you are learning Hebrew!
Yes I think I need to break out of my comfort zone a bit more often as well
Great reflections! What a great theme this was and how fun to hear their take on it. I don’t mind getting out of my physical comfort zone, but it is hard to get out of my social comfort zone.
It is hard to try new things and even harder as we age I think. I end up learning a lot from my crew
Cool post! Off-road running is out of my comfort zone, so much so that I had to book a road marathon for before my trail ultra to make sure I got at least my stamina and distance training done properly! Well done to you.
Off road running really scares me but I definitely need to tackle that sometime soon myself!
Love this post! Pushing out of comfort zones is so hard, but like they say “that is where the magic happens!”
that’s what “they” say! 🙂