Out of my Comfort Zone Again

It’s been a while since I’ve written any blogs, but I’ve been away on holiday for a while and, well, just busy with stuff.

While I was away I was taken out of my own personal comfort zone twice.  Both times I nearly backed out but then I remembered the saying by Neale Walsh “life begins at the end of your comfort zone”, so I took a deep breath and got on with it.

My first event was walking over this bamboo bridge in St Vincent.  I hate these sort of bridges, there are gaps in the floor, they look totally unsafe and the worse thing ever is that they swing and move when you walk on them; there is nothing stable to hold onto.  I had seen the bridge on the way in but a sign next to it said “temporarily out of use” – phew, I thought, I won’t have to do that.  Wrong!!  Turns out the bridge was perfectly safe and the sign was a joke for tourists.  Panic started to take hold and I thought I would just have to tell our guide I couldn’t do it.  But then the voice in my head said “are you sure you can’t do it?”.  Well of course I could do it, I just didn’t want to do it and I wouldn’t like doing it.  So I did it.

My second event was coming off a catamaran straight into the Caribbean Sea.  Now I can’t swim and, while water doesn’t particularly bother me, I don’t like being out of my depth – I panic.  I don’t trust floats and buoyancy aids of any kind and need to be able to keep my feet firmly on the bottom; that was not possible getting off the boat.  It was hot and humid, everyone else was going into the sea to cool off and I wanted to do it too.  One of the crew suggested I take a life vest but still I didn’t want to.  Then that voice again – “are you sure you can’t do it?”  Of course I could do it, I just didn't want to and I wouldn't like it because I would start to panic.  So I did it.

I felt so good after achieving both of these things.  Comfort zones are really personal and we cannot understand the fears and discomfort of others  - those who swim well will not understand how I panic when out of my depth; others will not understand how I feel on a rickety, swaying bridge that has gaps in the floor.  But those who do manage to move out of their comfort zones for a while will understand that moment of fear before you start, the constant feeling of nervousness whilst completing the task and then the feeling of complete euphoria when you have achieved.

It does us good to take on new challenges every once in a while.  It makes us realise that we are capable of much more than we think.  When we set our minds to it there is so much that we can achieve, we just need to take a deep breath and do it.  

I can’t say I will go out of my way looking for these kinds of experiences, but I hope I will not hesitate too long before accepting more challenges in the future.