It's a scary thought, stepping just one foot outside of the small circle you've been restrained in for most of your life. If you're anything like me, you find that doing just that almost impossible. We've been so stuck in one place that any change or anything that's different is perceived as being terrifying. You're right; it is terrifying, which is why we call it our "comfort zone" and why we continue to exist inside of it. Our comfort zones provide, yes, comfort. Imagine that! It's comfortable there; we settle, and we accept that what we have is the way it should be all the time. I am warning you now: Step outside of your comfort zone. It's terrifying, and you may get overwhelmed at first because nobody likes change. Once you're fresh out of the comfort zone that you've been trapped in for some odd number of years, it'll only benefit you in the end, and you'll get way more out of it than you thought you would.
Neil Armstrong said when he took the very first human steps on the moon, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." I know it was almost 50 years ago, and I don't expect half of the generation that follows mine to know what this means. I'm sure most of you have an idea of what I'm talking about. Well, think of stepping out of your comfort zone in that way. While doing so may not benefit mankind as a whole in the same way Armstrong did, it is still entirely possible, and it may be a small step physically. It is such a huge step mentally and emotionally. What if you're the next Neil Armstrong, but you don't know that you are because you hate flying? The thought of flying around in space is even more horrifying than being 35,000 feet up in the air, traveling two hours from New York to Florida. How do you know what you can do until you've tried it? You don't, which is a good reason to push yourself closer to the edge and even outside of your comfort zone to find out. What if the simple act of doing something you wouldn't normally do due to the anxiety of uncertainty and change could revolutionize the world of tomorrow? What if you're the person to discover the cure to cancer, or you're the individual who comes up with the perfect political strategy that maintains both domestic and international peace? What if you could be these people, but you haven't had the courage to try because there's a greater chance that you won't become these people? Break that mindset, and take the first step toward the rest of your life.
Now, I'll take a few moments to share with you a personal anecdote that I hope will help you with the concept of pushing the limits and trying something that is scary to you. It can only benefit you in the end.
Three years ago, my family and I went on this two-week-long vacation in August. Now, we're from New Jersey, and all the vacations we've ever taken were to Disney World in Florida and the Outer Banks in North Carolina. That's what we were used to and comfortable doing. Then came along the summer of 2013, and we decided to take this big, elaborate trip to Arizona and then drive to California, ending our adventure in Disney Land, CA. We flew from New Jersey to Texas and then from Texas to Arizona. Our first stop was the Grand Canyon. Now, I'm not going to bore you with intense details of every single place we visited, so I'll just be sure to flood your mind with boring stories of the Grand Canyon. If you find inspirational stories about beautiful nature mind-numbingly dull, I strongly advise you to stop reading, and go do something more productive. I will warn you that I am sharing this for your sake, and hopefully you can find some motivation to step outside of your comfort zone after reading this. We visited the Grand Canyon, and we actually stayed in a hotel in the park itself. We were no more than a five minute walk from the canyon's edge.
When I say that I have never experienced anything so beautiful, I am not exaggerating. I remember walking up to a dirt trail that ran around the entire canyon, stopping and just crying. I don't know why; perhaps it was overwhelming joy, beauty and tranquility. No one said a word for a good few minutes, we just awed at the sight. Then I think my mother actually told us that she was looking at something even more beautiful than the miracle of childbirth (being the first child, I took this personally). All kidding aside, we stood there, completely silent and completely still, and were amazed by the famous national landmark that was before us. It honestly looked like a painting, and it was so hard to wrap my head around the fact that it was this big and real and not just a piece of art. Then I got dizzy and nauseous because of how far down the bottom of the canyon was, so I had to sit down. I'm not very good with heights.
After walking part of the perimeter, we stopped into one of the stores/rest stops that were placed every few miles around the canyon. There, I saw a book with blank pages that visitors could write in and leave notes about how their visit was and such. Written on the cover of the book are nine words that have stuck with me since that vacation: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. On that trip, I learned that there's a truth to that statement, and you continue living even more when you push yourself out of that comfort zone. That's when life truly begins.
How did I find this to be true? After reading that, I signed the book, making my mark on the page surrounded by strangers' scribbles; I made the impulsive (some would say stupid) decision to go to the edge of the canyon and look straight down. Remember how I said I don't do well with heights? Call it a fear of falling, if you will. I decided in that moment I was going to look over that edge and push my comfort level to the edge as well. My feet shuffled their way to the edge, being fully aware that one wrong step, and I'd plummet a mile to my death. Have you ever heard of the book, "Over the Edge: Deaths of the Grand Canyon"? It exists, and I didn't want to be another story in a later publication of it. My hands were sweating by this point, and I was so dizzy that I ended up having to get down on my hands and knees and crawl until I could swing my legs over the rim. Eventually, I got there, and in that moment, my feet dangling over the edge of the Grand Canyon, I had never felt so uncomfortable before. I was sure I was going to fall forward, and that'd be the end of that. After a few minutes, I realized I was alright. I wasn't going to fall. I calmed myself down, and I actually started to feel this rush of adventure, peace, adrenaline and excitement. In that very moment, I felt like I was alive, not just living. I was doing something that not very many people get the chance to do in their lifetime. I was sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon, literally at the edge of my comfort zone. What else could I do that would make me uncomfortable and scared at first, but then I would realize that I'd be okay?
I like to keep this story in the back of my mind when I take that monumental step outside of my bubble of comfort and routine. That moment that happened three years ago pushed me to commit to going on a class trip to Florida for a week during my senior year of high school, helped me make the decision to attend a college outside of New Jersey and guide me into making the decision to eventually study abroad. All of these things have made and will make me nervous, uncomfortable, vulnerable and uncertain, but I've learned to seize any opportunity that comes my way. I use what I learned from that one vacation in almost every aspect of my life from school to work to my social life. Things that are different will make you uncomfortable; that's what happens to human beings. Change affects us in ways that sometimes we can't even understand. Change paralyzes us, and it's overwhelming. Don't let the fear of doing something stop you from doing it because there's a whole other world out there waiting for you to explore it. It's calling to you, so answer it. Learn how to live and not simply exist.
It's a scary concept, stepping outside of your comfort zone (or stepping to the edge of the Grand Canyon), but once you do, one time is all it takes. I guarantee you that the number of opportunities you will take advantage of from there on out is limitless.
