The last several months have offered me a real lesson in change. I've taken a close look at the decade passed and thought about the years to come. In doing so I came to a conclusion...it's time to broaden my comfort zone!
That really should be the progression in life, not to step out of your comfort zone, but to expand it's boundaries.
I grew up an EXTREMELY shy kid. It was a constant struggle for my parents to coax me out of corners and untangle me from their arms. As I got older I slowly forced myself to open up to people.
In school I joined performance art classes to help bring me out of my shell, or at least give myself permission to be someone else for a while. For a couple of hours a dayI could be someone who wasn't afraid to speak in public or start conversations with people I didn't know.
Because of those changes I've really had an interesting life so far. I have to remind myself of that every now and again and challenge myself to push my personal boundaries further than I believe I can. I can see now that I'm the sort of person that can get too comfortable, too easily.
Now, I'm sure most of us are guilty of this to a certain extent. As I'm starting to approach my late 30's I've noticed that time has just flashed by. One minute I was engaged and now I'll be celebrating my 4th wedding anniversary with the hubbs in a few months.
I think one of the reasons why time flashes by as we age has to do with the fact that we are no longer regularly altering our lives on a large scale. Let's think about this for a second...
In our teens changes are plentiful. Everything from jumping from junior high to high school, to dating, to finding your "Style" keeps your year so full that it's hard to see the next year coming.
By our mid twenties most of us have finished school, had many relationships, gone through several personal "style" changes and probably several jobs. We have moved from our parents house, to a dorm, to our first apartment.
As we enter our 30's we've begun to "settle down". You start looking for things like stability and dependability.
All of these things are great, but somewhere along the way we forgot to keep growing, experimenting and basically built the walls of our comfort zones.
Now that I've realized I was stuck in "Ruttsville" I'm no longer depending on my internal G.P.S.
I've decided not to step out of my comfort zone, but rather make some nice additions.
In the last couple of months I've made a commitment to myself to start learning again. Not necessarily by school or reading. It's more about opening my eyes to the world around me and giving myself permission to examine it and my role in that world. I'n not just thinking about the role I'll play now, but the role I'll play 5 years from now.
I've started working out again. I'm re-discovering the beauty and fashion industries. I have revisited some old hobbies and taken up a few new ones.
What I have found is that the word possibilities has re-entered my vocabulary.
Not only do I feel I'm moving in the right direction, but so is my health, my marriage and my future.
So- give yourself permission to try one new thing this month. It could be as small as a new lip color or restaurant or as big as going on vacation to a foreign country. We're 30, we're not dead right?
I've also noticed the same spark within my husband. It's so much fun to be on this adventure together!
Over the last several months/ weeks I've tried lot's of new things and I'm so excited to share them with you!
There's lots more to come. I hope you'll share with me what you've done to build onto your comfort Zone!
Don't be a stranger :-)
J.D.
That really should be the progression in life, not to step out of your comfort zone, but to expand it's boundaries.
I grew up an EXTREMELY shy kid. It was a constant struggle for my parents to coax me out of corners and untangle me from their arms. As I got older I slowly forced myself to open up to people.
In school I joined performance art classes to help bring me out of my shell, or at least give myself permission to be someone else for a while. For a couple of hours a dayI could be someone who wasn't afraid to speak in public or start conversations with people I didn't know.
Because of those changes I've really had an interesting life so far. I have to remind myself of that every now and again and challenge myself to push my personal boundaries further than I believe I can. I can see now that I'm the sort of person that can get too comfortable, too easily.
Now, I'm sure most of us are guilty of this to a certain extent. As I'm starting to approach my late 30's I've noticed that time has just flashed by. One minute I was engaged and now I'll be celebrating my 4th wedding anniversary with the hubbs in a few months.
I think one of the reasons why time flashes by as we age has to do with the fact that we are no longer regularly altering our lives on a large scale. Let's think about this for a second...
In our teens changes are plentiful. Everything from jumping from junior high to high school, to dating, to finding your "Style" keeps your year so full that it's hard to see the next year coming.
By our mid twenties most of us have finished school, had many relationships, gone through several personal "style" changes and probably several jobs. We have moved from our parents house, to a dorm, to our first apartment.
As we enter our 30's we've begun to "settle down". You start looking for things like stability and dependability.
All of these things are great, but somewhere along the way we forgot to keep growing, experimenting and basically built the walls of our comfort zones.
Now that I've realized I was stuck in "Ruttsville" I'm no longer depending on my internal G.P.S.
I've decided not to step out of my comfort zone, but rather make some nice additions.
In the last couple of months I've made a commitment to myself to start learning again. Not necessarily by school or reading. It's more about opening my eyes to the world around me and giving myself permission to examine it and my role in that world. I'n not just thinking about the role I'll play now, but the role I'll play 5 years from now.
I've started working out again. I'm re-discovering the beauty and fashion industries. I have revisited some old hobbies and taken up a few new ones.
What I have found is that the word possibilities has re-entered my vocabulary.
Not only do I feel I'm moving in the right direction, but so is my health, my marriage and my future.
So- give yourself permission to try one new thing this month. It could be as small as a new lip color or restaurant or as big as going on vacation to a foreign country. We're 30, we're not dead right?
I've also noticed the same spark within my husband. It's so much fun to be on this adventure together!
Over the last several months/ weeks I've tried lot's of new things and I'm so excited to share them with you!
There's lots more to come. I hope you'll share with me what you've done to build onto your comfort Zone!
Don't be a stranger :-)
J.D.
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