It has been almost eight years since I graduated from Boise State University with a Bachelors in Business Administration and a Bachelors in Art History. What was I going to do with my life? I took the GRE, I applied for Masters programs in Art History. I wanted to be a curator in an art museum. I wanted to be an expert on Ancient Greek and Roman art.
The first schools I applied to did not accept me. Why did I not keep trying? Why did I not follow that dream? I realized that I’m too attached to home. I’m too attached to Boise, Idaho and I could not imagine living anywhere else. If I became a curator for an art museum, for ancient art, there’s no way I’d finish school and come back to Boise.
Now, I ultimately do not regret my decision because had I moved away I would not have met my husband and I would not have my two beautiful children but I do still miss art history.
What Makes Our Comfort Zones?
I do wonder where I would be had I made a different decision. I was afraid. I feared failure. I feared loneliness. I feared the unknown. And honestly, I still fear all of those things. That fear kept me from reaching something that may have been everything to me. That fear still keeps me from so many things.
So many people keep themselves from opportunities and experiences because of their fear. There is this little bubble we create, this wall, it’s protection. We protect ourselves from the unknown, we protect ourselves from potential hurt and in doing so we are actually the ones hurting ourselves. So how do we work on stepping out of that bubble? How do we break down that wall?
How Do We Break Down the Wall?
I’m still working on this myself but I found an article I really liked for this answer. It is 10 Ways to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and Enjoy Taking Risks written by Cylon George. My favorite of these 10 is to become aware of what’s outside of your comfort zone. If we do not know what is our comfort zone. If we are not self-aware enough to understand it then we will never understand where the line is. Where am I comfortable? What makes me uncomfortable? Why does that make me uncomfortable? Knowing what is outside it and reminding ourselves of what that may be can help us lessen our fear. Fear most often has a huge element of the unknown and once we know we are less fearful.
What is your comfort zone? What is your fear that keeps you in that comfort zone? How can you step outside of it and grow?
Sarah
