Written By: Anne Bolender
Life happens.
Over the years, as we grow up, get an education, raise families, negotiate careers…..we get comfortable with our routines, our habits, and our beliefs.
We accept, without question, reality as it has been defined by others – by teachers, parents, researchers, scientists who believe in the one right way, politicians, journalists, employers, co-workers……..
We are so busy learning what others believe we need to know in order to do the things that others believe we should be doing. Or we are so focused on becoming the person that others believe we should become that we rarely take the precious time we need to question what we are doing, thinking, believing, becoming.
We get comfortable living inside our comfort zone.
Life is easy inside our comfort zone. There is security and ease in the familiar. Life is simplified, decisions are reduced or eliminated. We shop in the same stores week after week, follow the same routes to work day after day, prepare the same meals month after month. Our energy is diverted to raising kids, paying bills, working long hours……..who has the energy to explore potentials and possibilities when life is already so full of chaos and things that need to be done?
Until one day we realize that our comfort zone has become our invisible prison.
We realize that there is more to this life than what we have been experiencing, and time is ticking by. We catch fleeting glimpses of the new realities, new sciences, new perspectives, new opportunities, new possibilities that are sliding past us…….
And we want to be released from our invisible prison……we want out!!
Our dreams take on a sense of urgency that can no longer be suppressed and we start to become fascinated by possibilities. And finding our life’s purpose. And connecting with our passions. And exploring our potential. And shifting our reality.
We begin to realize that we really do live in interesting times and we start to want more.
We stand at the walls of our invisible prison, our ‘comfort zone’, and look out at what could be, trying to make sense of the feelings of longing and desire that threaten to overwhelm until finally, one small step at a time, we begin to explore the reality that exists beyond our comfort zone. As we overcome resistance, fear, uncertainty, and doubt the walls of our invisible prison begin to crumble and our comfort zone expands.
The amazing thing about exploring life outside our comfort zone is that the more we explore, the more our comfort zone expands. And the more our comfort zone expands, the more our reality shifts to include an amazing amount of awesome stuff!!
So this is the path I have started on: the path of exploring life out of my comfort zone.
Maybe there is something about reaching a certain age when the old truths start giving way to new perspectives, to new ways of seeing? When the urge to explore our true potential and to flow into new realities overcomes our fear of the unknown? When our once secure and reliable comfort zone begins to feel tiny and claustrophobic?
Perhaps……….
All I know for sure is that, for me, regardless of what the reason was for starting this adventure, this exploration of the reality that exists out of my comfort zone has been enlightening!! And fascinating. And terrifying. And I can not wait to discover where this journey takes me.
Magic happens when you step out of your comfort zone!!
