Nothing great ever came out of comfort zones

We grew up with big names like Oprah Winfrey, Stephen King, Christina Aguilera, Mark Wahlberg, and numerous others, including the notorious Albert Einstein, being mentioned among us and looked up at with great admiration. People that had the greatest successes! But guess what? None of them came out of their comfort zones. It happens that most of the time, those that have been most successful are the ones that faced the most adversity and the ones that managed to conquer those adversities with great determination and resilience. Unfortunately, people don’t realize this, as they cannot imagine the journey they would have had to go through to get to where they are today. People judge from where they stand because that is what they know. Which leads me to say that the more we go through in life, the wider our perspective becomes, if we are open to learn from them and allow them to change us for the better.

People that have been through hardship and have succeeded in life are the ones that just walked right through it. Felt every inch of that pain, took it all in, and managed to break it all down to the smallest fraction in order to process it all properly to be able to give it a new dynamic and a new shape to themselves. It is THAT that makes us become bigger people. To me, pushing those boundaries is what it is all about. It is only when we dare to challenge the norm will we discover the real inner strength that we have, and where it can take us. Restricting our mind and body will only restrict our possibilities.

What all this means is that if we are afraid to go out of our comfort zone, that’s exactly where we shall stay, leading us to an average life with a surely average result. Don’t expect anything great to come out of that. I was brought up with the philosophy of ‘no pain, no gain,’ and now that I’m all grown up, I realize how true that expression is. How can we expect extraordinary results if we don’t go the extra mile or two?!

I can comfortably say that I have been living out of my comfort zone now for the last twelve years. When I look back, I realize what a different person I was back then. I see a totally different version of myself. Still the same characteristics but much more dynamic, confident, bold, and fearless. Through my hardship, I have acquired skills that I would have never managed to accomplish had I not been through those difficult moments of adversity. Don’t wait for something major to happen in order to get to the depths of your true potential. Try with baby steps as a start. On a simple note, dare yourself to do something you have never done before and explore what that will lead you to with an open mind or dare yourself to do things differently rather than use the same tried and tested methods. Learning new things, meeting new people, seeing new places, and trying new experiences. What’s most important, however, is the next step after that. To see where that has led you. Stop to observe. Literally watch yourself as though you are watching from a different angle. See how applying a new way has led you to a better outcome or not and how that might have opened new horizons in different areas. Once you have identified that, it will help you witness growths as small or big as they are, that will give you the right dose of courage to take it further and dig deeper.

This continued process will lead you to completely different avenues than you once knew. It will give you a deeper understanding that there is so much more than what we are used to. It will give you perspective. Once you accomplish that, the roads for growth are endless. You realize that you can literally apply this to anything. The more you apply it, the more confident you become and the bolder your thinking process becomes. You have surely heard this saying before “we are what we have been through” and it is so right. Our mind is a machine and for that, I must add that it is the most powerful tool that we have. The more we feed it, the more it works but it can also work in the negative if we feed it negativity. On the contrary, if we feed it possibilities, it will give us numerous alternatives to allow us to reach our goals. The more we give it feedback, the more accurate the new alternatives/solutions to our challenges will be. Just like a muscle, it will become leaner and stronger. Don’t be afraid, allow yourself time to explore. I promise you it will lead you to roads you have never been through before, sceneries you have never seen before and scents you have never dared to smell. Build on it and shape yourself into the human being you want yourself to become. Please, enjoy the process. Don’t sabotage yourself. Do not panic or stress. It might give you some anxiety and insecurity, just be prepared and don’t let it overtake. Just acknowledge it and be conscious of it so you make your fears smaller than they really are. Be patient and remain optimistic, no matter the struggle. If your feet won’t allow you to make those steps for a few days or so, don’t worry, it is perfectly normal; we are humans after all not programmable robots yet, thank the lord. Just breathe it out and let yourself be BUT keep your mind focused because one day your mind will take you there. It will be waiting for the right opportunity. Just keep it in the back burner until it is ready. Then just trust yourself and go with it. Allow the flow to lead you the way.

If you are like me, I would want to know if I am on the right track or not. How will you know? Very simple… if you are not familiar with the ground you stand on and it makes you feel uncomfortable, you are on the right track. Congratulations, you are starting to exit your comfort zone 🙂 In theory, the more uncomfortable you are the more you are out of your comfort zone. However, always remain true to yourself. Is there still you in there? We don’t want to become somebody else, remember that. We love how we are; we just want to become fitter and stronger, so that doesn’t mean losing our souls. Remain loyal to who you are, in the process. Losing yourself will only lead you to confusion in the long term and to lose the whole plot.

Expand your awareness into the world of possibility. It is right there where your possibilities start to become visible, and your journey starts to be truly explored. Once you reach this stage, you have altered your state of mind for life. This, ladies and gents, is the greatest gift you can give to yourself in this one life that we have been given. You will never look back after that.