Stepping Out of your Comfort Zone

This is my first official Sunday Blog.  I am going to do my best to post every Sunday.  I will also try to post a video now and then!  I would like to hear from you in what you are wanting to hear about and learn.  I can write on how to live simply, how to live sustainably, how to travel simply, I can write about our travel adventures from around the world, I can write on spiritual matters, on how to step out of your comfort zone, I can write on training dogs and dog behavior.  Let me hear from you on what you would like to learn about or I will just choose!  🙂

STEPPING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

This week I will start with stepping out of your comfort zone.  We all get into our ruts in life and as much as we want to do something new, express ourselves in different ways, get out of a bad relationship, start getting in shape, eating better, you name it, we just don’t.  We use all kinds of excuses why we can’t do this or that.  We will do it when……is done, we will do it next week, we will do it when we feel better, we will do it when the company leaves and on and on. OR, we CAN’T do it because I am not good enough, I don’t know enough, who would want to listen to me, I need more education….you get the idea I am sure.  We, as humans, so often sell ourselves short or talk ourselves out of being all we can be.  This could be because of what parents told us in childhood, or we may have tried and failed at something, or we are just good at negative self-talk.

I am very familiar with all of these excuses and negative feelings.  Fear is the underlying emotion to all of it. Fear of the unknown, fear that if we change or dare to step into our true selves….. what will others think of me?  We may lose friends or even other close relationships, our families may put pressure on us not to change as it would be too scary for them, they might have to take a closer look at THEIR lives.  It does take some courage to go against the grain!  BUT, the rewards are SO worth it!  Staying “small” never really makes us feel good no matter how much we might tell ourselves that it is safe in that “small” place.  We are all powerful souls having a human experience and our task is to remember who we really are, to remember we are powerful beings and we came here to share our unique gifts with the world.  If we stay small we lose that wonderful opportunity to help ourselves and more importantly to help others.  We all have a special gift that only we can share, what a shame if we never do that. 

I will tell you a little about MY going against the grain, none of which was, or is, easy.  In the 1980s I decided that, now that my son was grown, I needed to do something else with my life and after much research I decided to go back to school and get a degree in nursing.  I had always wanted to help people but I was always very shy and am an introvert by nature, so having to go “out in the world” wasn’t easy but I pushed myself to do it.  I discovered that I really liked school and was pretty darn good at it!  I liked it so much, in fact, that I decided to pursue a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing.  This definitely went against the grain since the school I was accepted at was out of state, which meant I had to live away from home for part of each week.  My husband was NOT happy with this even though for years he had traveled each week for business part of each week!  I was even considering going on for a PhD but as soon as my masters was finished my husband filed for divorce…..out of the blue!!!  My stepping into my power was too much for him.  I have absolutely no regrets, however, as my life since then has been a wonderful roller coaster ride which has taken me all over the world.  I never would have guessed that my “stepping out” would have caused so many changes to occur.  But is doesn’t stop, that “stepping out”, one has to keep on doing it over and over again and I can tell you, it is never easy but the rewards are incredible!!!!

So, you say, how can I do this too??  How about starting by writing a list of things that you want to change in your life?  Then pick the one that is most important to you.  Write down how you might envision carrying out that change.  Envision how your life would look if you carried out that plan.  How does it feel?  Are you scared or is it exciting?  If you are scared, write down what scares you, what is the fear about, are they rational fears or made up fears?  Write down what could be exciting about your new way of being or doing.  Really envision that excitement, what does it feel like, what does it look like, what does is smell, taste and sound like?  Immerse yourself in that exciting vision each day until you are ready to write down some steps to get to that new place.

I would love to hear about your visions and your fears and anything else you may want to share.  Leave a comment or question below. 

Until next time……be fearless!!!