Stepping out

There’s a reason we call our Comfort Zone, a ‘comfort’ zone. It’s nice in there, you’re filled with reassurance, no risks and everything you need is perfectly in place. It’s nice to run back into your comfort zone when things get challenging or even complicated because once you’re in there, nothing can worry you. But stop for a minute and think, out of those challenging times you avoided that required you to jump out of your comfort zone, how many golden opportunities have you missed? Of course, you never know because you never grasped it. Stepping out of your comfort zone, as cliché as it sounds, is one of the best things you would do for yourself, well of course it’s not going to be lovely at first, but it’s a choice you’ll never regret.

We all, as humans, are afraid of the unknown. “What if……?” that crevice of uncertainty keeps pushing us back into the safe haven we live in. But would you rather stay inside that safe bubble and keep going on with your monotonous life or see a challenging opportunity, grasp it and have the best adventure of your life? As much as we are afraid of the unknown, we crave adventure. Curiosity is what kept us learning new things ever since we were children. Remember the first time you stepped into pre-school away from the comfort of your home? That was you stepping out of your comfort zone, away from your family, pets and home into a new place with new people where you mingled with those your age and learned new things, if you as a toddler decided to stay at home in your comfort zone, you wouldn’t be able to read this. Of course you cried and threw tantrums about going to school, but look at your life now, isn’t school the place where the best memories of your life were made?

Let’s use an example from something we all loved as children (and now as well). If Simba decided to live his life all Hakuna Matata with Timon and Pumbaa, Scar would destroy the Pride Lands his father protected and ruled all his life and his family would have to suffer for all time. But what did Simba do? He decided to take a chance and go back to his land and win it back as the rightful King, what happened at the end? Scar was defeated and the Pride Lands were brought back to life, he reunited with his family and even learned the truth about his father’s death. You could see the uncertainty and hesitation in his eyes when he had to climb Pride Rock, but everyone around him assured and supported him, telling him that he was doing the right thing. Simba was an example to all of us, that although sometimes we may be hesitant to do something we haven’t done, the best rewards lie when you take that opportunity.

Likewise, Jasmine secretly escaped the comforts of her palace to explore the outside world, she learned about the ways of life of those living outside her palace walls. Eventually she met Aladdin who took her around the world, showing her places she’s never been, something she’d always wanted. She was brave enough to leave her comfortable life for a while to feed her curiosity.

Whenever I am faced with a challenging situation, I always tell myself, ‘Just do it. Go for it. Go ahead and step out of your comfort zone, be brave. Don’t be afraid to take risks.’ After all, what’s the essence of life if there is no adventure in it? I’ve had MANY situations in my life where I have refused to do things outside my comfort zone and obviously ended up regretting it for years to come. I saw other people grasp the opportunity that I was too scared and hesitant to seize and thus be rewarded very favourably.

Don’t be afraid to doing something totally alien to you because you’ll see someone else who was brave enough to step out of their comfort zone embrace that chance and live YOUR dream. Life is all about learning, and every new day you get you have two choices: sit back and do nothing or do something exciting and new. Be brave enough to step out of the safety barrier you created yourself and live the life you dreamed of, you’ll never know what you’re missing out if you don’t.

Nothing is served to you on a silver platter and dreams don’t come true in one day. Be willing to take the risks, because you never know what lies on the other side of the bridge. Of course there will be bumps and dents ahead of you, but mistakes teach you the greatest lessons and mistakes are proof that you are trying. You are given one shot at this life, so make it worth and get outta that comfort zone and make YOUR life more exciting, you will eventually be rewarded more than you expected. Life doesn’t throw rocks at you that you can’t catch. So go ahead, feed your curiosity, have some adventure, take a few risks and live your BEST life.