Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
When it comes to success, I am my biggest obstacle.
I recently attended a conference. The speakers were inspiring, and the content touched my soul in a way that I didn’t realize I needed. While I learned so much, one of the greatest lessons I learned was about discomfort. One of the speakers said, “You need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Excuse me? What? But I like being comfortable!
My comfort zone is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. More specifically, I have been thinking about how I can get out of my comfort zone. I mean, I want to be bolder and more daring, but this comfort zone is so, well, comfortable. It’s cozy here, and it’s so predictable.
She was right, but I was already uncomfortable. In the past few years, I left a stable career that I spent 20 years doing, and I started my own business. Venturing out on my own was far less stable and unpredictable. That alone is uncomfortable enough, but to learn that I have to get even more uncomfortable to succeed in this new career paralyzed me with fear.
When it comes to success, I am my biggest obstacle. I fear failure and oftentimes won’t attempt something if I know that I won’t be good at it. Yet here I am, doing something completely out of my comfort zone.
Then I had an aha moment. I was already uncomfortable doing something new and unknown, and it wouldn’t hurt to move a little more from my comfort zone. Steadily, I have been doing that. I have been forcing myself to do something new professionally, so why not apply this in all areas of my life.
For the past few months, I have been working on getting uncomfortable. I have been trying new things, and so far it has been great. I realize that I could be doing more, but I don’t want to rush the process.
Let’s keep this conversation going! What have you been putting off doing because it is uncomfortable? What can you do to step outside of your comfort zone?
