As a kid, I remember my excitement to see and experience new things and dreamed of traveling the world. There wasn't much I was worried about back then, beyond what school would be like and who my friends would end up being. I hadn't really established who I was or considered what I had wanted to be at such a young age. I just knew the world was this huge, intriguing place and I wanted to see it all. As I grew up, I grew uncertain of the unknown. Let's face it, the world can be a scary place, and I wasn't as comfortable with the idea of world travel, especially with all the war and hate thrown around between different cultures. Even walking around by myself, in my hometown or anywhere else, made me uncomfortable, because we grew up learning of how unsafe the world is and that we should never travel alone. I believe this affected my level of comfort for certain situations in a huge way, causing me to let my fear of the unknown guide me away from those life-changing experienecs that I craved.

I define our comfort zones as these mental barriers or shields we put up around ourselves to protect us from our fears of uncertainty, failure and anything else that could potentially scare us away from the things we dream about; because fear has this way of holding us back from experiencing, seeing and learning. We literally become too terrified to reach beyond those barriers and we let oursleves fall into a routine that we deem comfortable, because at least we won't embarrass ourselves or face the thought that we don't know what is going to happen next. There are so many things I wished I had done, but I let my fear and uncertainty guide me away from them, because our habits are hard to break, especally when it comes to our comfort zones.

So, if you are anything like me and researched all about comfort zones and what exactly it is that keeps us locked away within them, then you know there isn't going to be one big reason for everyone, because it differs per person. The biggest step to move past them, besides knowing our own habits and embracing who we are, is to find the courage to not only face our fears, but overcome them as well. There's two ways we can do this. The first is to break out or step out of our comfort zone. This, to me, seems to mean that we leave that zone completely and just slow down and let go of the worries that hold us back. This is to live in the moment as we put aside our worries and doubts and just face the problems as they arise, instead of sweat all the things that haven't happened. The other way, is to sort of embrace, yet expand our comfort zones. To me, this means that we take it one step at a time as we slowly try new things and dissern what we truly are comfortable with, after we actually face the fear. We try new things and if we like them, then they become part of our own little secure, comfort zones as we keep out what we don't want or need.

And because this topic provides different results based on each individual and their comfort zones, it's really hard to go into anything further than broad examples and advice. For me, I have yet to face many of my fears that hold me back from my dream of traveling and experiencing new things and it will be something I plan on working on in the near future. And if everything works out for me, I hope to start this journey by studying abroad in the next couple of years. For those of you who know how much of a home-body I am, you know this will be difficult for me, but I think it will bring the right kind of push that I need to get going. So, from me to you, I wish you all the best of luck to you on your own journeys as you either kick down your barriers or embrace and expand them, and continue to grow into who you want to be without letting your fears get in the way. Because honestly, you're not living until you get past the fears that trap you within your comfort zone. That's where you meet the greatest people and see the most beautiful things.