My entire life I’ve been the kind of girl who always stays in her comfort zone. I always sit in the back of the room, I never raise my hand, I did theatre but auditions were rough, I only speak up for myself when I have to, and I never approach strangers. It’s always worked for me, if you don’t give people a reason to notice you then you can just live your life under the radar. But here’s the thing, lately I’ve been feeling pretty stuck. I have been going through the same motions every single day, I have turned my life into a “to-do list”.

I remember a time in my life when I felt so much more alive, I was doing things I was really passionate about, I was meeting new people and taking more chances. I’ve learned that if you always live in you comfort zone you never give yourself a chance to really feel alive. The only way to break the pattern is to do the things that scare you most. Ask yourself what you want and then go after it.

It’s almost impossible for really great things to happen in your life if you don’t take a chance on them. If you’re anything like me, you refuse to take risks because you’re scared you’ll lose something. Recently I’ve realized you can still lose things that are important to you even if you don’t take risks, so why not go for it?

Once you start taking risks, you realize you’re capable of more than you thought. You could sit around trying to figure out what you want from life, or you could start trying things and find out if you’re heading in the right direction. The more risks you take, the more involved in your own life you will be, and it is then that you can find true meaning in it. Things aren’t always going to go your way but they never will if you don’t try something that changes the status quo.

Always expect the unexpected, stop asking yourself the “what if” questions and start asking yourself the questions that matter. How did you end up where you are? What did you learn? Even the worst experiences in life can teach you something once you stop feeling sorry for yourself and willingly learn from them.

Take the risks that you’re scared of. Make the life changing decisions. Stop living life on the most basic level and let yourself feel alive. To be clear, I don’t mean be reckless and party all the time. I mean go on that trip you’ve been dreaming of, talk to that person you see everywhere, ask the questions you’re curious about. I’m going to start sitting in the front of the classroom, I’m going to raise my hand, and make friends with the stranger on the bus. Stop living for the to-do list. Do everything that makes you happy, even if it scares you. You just might start to feel a bit more alive.