We strive for comfort – from our outfit choices, the places we go and the people we surround ourselves with, we long for security and certainty about many aspects of life. With comfort comes familiarity. Familiarity is positive in that it provides a peace-of-mind about certain situations. For example, you know you can get to work on time because your commute is familiar. In the opposite scenario, you would be anxious and uncertain you could get somewhere on time if you had never driven the route. Sometimes, familiarity is good for us. But, does familiarity prohibit growth?

Change is hard. Whether that come from a new school, workplace or people in your life, it is difficult to adjust. When a major or minor change happens in any aspect of your life it can be daunting. The unknown is quite a scary place. Why? Because change brings uncharted territory and often takes us out of the comfort that a familiar situation brings. It’s scary for a lot of people to leave their hometowns for whatever the reason to a new place where you do not know anyone and the city itself is unfamiliar. This all comes back to comfort. With change, we sacrifice comfort and our familiarity of our daily lives for something that puts us on edge, can make us nervous or anxious.

“Milkshakes melt, people change” -Ludo

Sometimes, life changes and our life as we knew it quickly melts away to transform into something brand new. Or, people have a change in heart or mind and walk out of your life. Change is more often out of our control, and determined by situational factors and others changing their life, but ours are altered as well. This can hit like a brick wall, especially if we were not expecting it. A significant other can walk out one day without saying a word and leave you when all you talked about was a life together forever. Face it: life happens. Sometimes, we should just let these changes take their course and embrace the unfamiliar adventure that lies ahead instead of fighting against life’s plan. You never know what lies on the other side of a terrible situation until you move past it and venture there.

Life does not stop for anyone, regardless if you’re ready or not. So, you might as well make the most out of the situations and circumstances that you are dealt. Instead of waiting for your life to become exactly what you want it, go into the unknown and see if what you are looking for is where you never expected to find it. We are all living here on Earth to help each other reach the finish line one day. Your running shoes that you’ve used for years may be comfortable, but they can no longer serve you a purpose if there is a hole in their sole. They will only slow you down and leave you hurting. Instead, take a chance on a brand new pair of shoes, accompanied with the excitement and possibly that they bring your journey.

This goes for people and situations in our lives. Sometimes, they’re put in our lives to help us through a specific point in life. And in a sense, we will outgrow them or the situation or use them until they can no longer assist us. This is when the jump into the unknown has to occur, no matter how comfortable your current situation at the time may be. By sticking with familiarity, you could be prohibiting your growth in many different ways. You would never learn anything worthwhile if you never left elementary school. Instead, you braced the scary world of middle school, and then high school and then college or the workforce. You would not be where you are today without taking these necessary steps to help you achieve your dreams.

If you’re hesitating to enter the unknown or holding onto people who have helped you as much as they can – let go. It is scary, and that’s OK. But, this is what helps us to be better, what helps us to evolve and what helps us to cross the finish line ultimately. Push yourself past your comfort zone. Explore unfamiliar territory. You never know what will come out of something that you have not yet explored.