Make Yourself Uncomfortable

Remember that old thing we all like so much? You know... Your favorite blanket... Your favorite restaurant... Your favorite vacation spot... Your favorite group of friends... Your favorite...

We're comfortable with those things. We have certain expectations about them and they always come through. They're easy. 

But they don't challenge us. They don't make us reach for bigger and higher and better. They don't help us reach our full potential.

The comfort zone.

A couple of months ago I stepped out of my comfort zone during a vacation to Puerto Rico. I checked off one of the items on my Bucket list, doing something I'd always wanted to do. I went hang gliding.

Not parasailing - getting pulled up wearing a parachute attached to a speeding boat. Done. Three times, actually, and the last time, I felt a little unsure of myself in my ripe old age.

No, hang gliding. Going up 3, 4 even 5,000 feet hanging from a kite and floating around awhile (with a certified pilot, I might add). Well, I did it. I stepped out of the old comfort zone, strapped myself in (actually, the crew strapped me in) and took off tethered to a little ultralight plane. When we reached around 5,000 feet, the  pilot released the tether and we floated... over green hills, pastures and valleys and out over the ocean and the beach. What an invigorating experience! It's one I'll remember the rest of my life.

That's the thing about comfort zones. When we leave them, something extraordinary happens. After all, aren't our comfort zones simply ordinary? When we move out of them we move into the extra-ordinary.

Give it a try. Let go. Do something new. Take that first step. You'll never be the same again.