There’s this odd thing about comfort zones: they start out really small, and then as life happens they grow.

The crazy thing about comfort zones is that everyone has a comfort zone that encompasses different things. This has a lot to do with personality, how someone was raised, and how much effort they put into learning and growing.

I’m fairly certain that by nature (aka, my personality) my comfort zone is significantly smaller with normal, every-day things than most of the people around me. For instance, I still have little internal (and sometimes external) freak-out sessions when it comes to tasks that the average American probably doesn’t even think about anymore.

On the other hand, there are other things that don’t give me a pause that are probably fairly far outside of most of my peer’s comfort zone. (Make food for 150 people for a week? Sounds like fun. Make a phone call to schedule an orthodontist appointment? How about no.)

I’ve realized in the last year that I have to push outside my comfort zone a lot – as in probably every day I do at least one thing, and often times a multitude of things, that are outside my comfort zone. At times I think this is just because my comfort zone is exceedingly small, but then I do something without a second thought that makes someone else freak out, and I’m reminded all over again how different each person’s personality zone really is.

One thing that has helped me be more okay with pushing the walls of my comfort zone to the max (which, in case you didn’t know, is very uncomfortable), is really paying attention to where my comfort zone is. Because guess what? My comfort zone is different from where it was a year ago. Or even a month ago.

Do I like answering the phone at work? No, not at all. But I no longer want to cry when I hear the ring and see that my co-worker is busy. And that’s the same way I feel about driving certain places, and answering questions about coffee drinks, and hundreds of other things that I used to force myself to do on a regular basis and now do without thought.

The last few weeks I’ve been pushing out the walls of my comfort zone in yet another area of life. It’s freaky. It’s a lot of work. But it’s also rewarding.

Currently
Setting: At my second parent’s house 
Listening to: My papa play the fiddle 
Question of the Day: What’s one thing you’re learning to do that’s outside your comfort zone?