Comfort Zones

I’ve come across this drawing a few places now. Facebook, Instagram, social media seems to love the simple message it conveys. But is the message really that simple? Dig deep and it is a big ask. How many of us are willing to leave our comfort zones? After all, haven’t we earned this space. Haven’t we clawed our way towards what is, essentially, what defines us now?

As children, even as teenagers or young adults, the world is one that glimmers with the promise of new adventures. Our horizons at the time, are ever expanding. There is little or no fear in exploration of the unknown. There is a belief that one can pick oneself up, dust oneself off, and start again. With age, as cynicism sets in, optimism retreats to a lonely corner. We become adept at defining our parameters. We start to cotton wool our nests. Risk taking? What’s that? The extent of one’s adventurous spirit becomes confined to perhaps trying out a new spirit.

Yet, how does one grow unless one moves or gets shoved out, of that comfort zone?

I remember, years ago, being introduced to marathon running by a friend. For a non runner, this seemed to be an insurmountable task. Still, I forced myself to grab the opportunity. I won’t deny that it was a slog. All the hours I put in, the loneliness of running and having just one’s own thoughts for company, the injuries I sustained along the way. Crossing that finish line was one of the best feelings I have ever experienced in my life. The sheer exhilaration of knowing what my body, but more importantly, my mind, could do, has stayed with me all along.And that’s what it’s about.

Learning who you are, what you’re made of and how much you can push yourself.

So try it. A bite at a time, and life will be so much more rewarding at the end of it all.