It’s comfortable, I know.  But there needs to be more, yes really.  Now, I’m not suggesting something outlandish like going camping with nothing more than a tarp and a book of matches.  (In fact, I’m not suggesting camping at all, there are limits to going outside of your comfort zone.)  We don’t have to endanger our lives to shake up the limits of our comfort zones.

c1907 camping, photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

How many people do you know just keep doing something that doesn’t particularly fill them with joy just because it is familiar?  The evil that we know, as the saying goes…  If that something is a job, or a relationship maybe it will just take a bit of thought about how to freshen it up a bit.

Or maybe it would be to take a step or two in a forgotten or new direction.  When was the last time that you drew, or danced, or sang, or grew something, or biked, or, or, or?  Things drop out of our lives, or interests get forgotten as we settle into our adult pattern.  My dad kept his hunting gear in the bottom of his closet through move after move even though he didn’t hunt throughout my childhood.  He returned to it in retirement and his eyes would light up as he told us about it.  I have a picture of two camouflaged hulks standing in my kitchen from his turkey hunting adventure with my then-husband.

This picture both makes me smile and sad.  Why did he feel that he had to turn aside from this activity for so many years?  Finances certainly played a role, but perhaps didn’t need to be the absolute hindrance that they appeared.

I remind myself of this when I miss out on yet another Broadway in Chicago event because I couldn’t justify the cost of the experience.  There is huge benefit in trying new things and revisiting old interests.  I say this as much to myself as to any reader.

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Tagged: Comfort zone, Creativity, Perspective, Self expression