When you expand your comfort zone, you’ll expand your experiences, your story, and your influence.
I’d like you to imagine your comfort zone.
Just picture yourself standing in it right now. Safe and comfortable. It’s very nice there, isn’t it?
Now slowly, with confidence and ease, imagine yourself walking toward the edge of it.
What does that perimeter look like to you? How do you picture it?
Is it big and scary? Is it made of bricks and barbed wire? Laced with scorpions? Is it flaming with embers and hot ash? A solid row of hungry crocodiles?!
Is the edge of your comfort zone doing everything in its power to keep you inside? Does it forbid you – its rightful owner – to dare even consider stepping past?
If you answered yes to any of the above, that’s okay. In fact, it actually makes sense. It means your imagination (and underlying subconscious) are working extra hard to protect you. You see, the scarier and more epic you picture the edge of your comfort zone to be, the more likely you are to stay within it. Because you’re safe there.
Our subconscious minds are there to protect us, that’s all they’re ever trying to do. And, for the most part, they do a really great job. It’s just that sometimes they go a little overboard and efforts to protect actually become a means to prevent.
A life that is prevented, strictly restricted, held back and held down… that’s a life sequestered and squelched, a life not fully fulfilled.
But I’ve got some good news for you: that edge doesn’t have to be so ferocious and intimidating. It’s your comfort zone and you get to picture it however you like! The perimeter can actually be welcoming and friendly, drawing you near.
You might picture the edge of your comfort zone as a tiny white picket fence, just inches tall from the ground, with teeny tiny flowers beside it.
Or maybe it’s a line in the sand; a delicate, fine line that gradually gets pushed further and further out with the waves of your own tide.
It can be made of pillows, ice cream sundaes, or sleeping puppies (or all three)! It can be a solid row of lounge chairs with pineapple drinks. The wall of your comfort zone can be anything you want. It’s yours.
And any time you step near it or past it, you’ll probably feel nervous. That’s okay! That’s great actually. Nerves mean you’re excited. Nerves mean you care. Nerves mean you’re going the right way.
And if you get a little too gung-ho and venture too far past it, don’t worry. Your subconscious will give you a signal and quickly reel you back in. You’ll likely get reeled back in real fast.
When you expand your comfort zone, you’ll expand your experiences, your story, and your influence. Your comfort zone is not a fixed object. It’s designed to change, to move and to grow, right along with you.
Just take a deep breath and a small step…
Expand.
