Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

 Oh man, this is a phrase that can be pretty terrifying. Why should we have to step away from the stuff we're happy with? Scary new things are clearly not for me. I mean, Garfield never had to leave his snacks, right? Why should I have to try to leave my everyday routine?

 Plus we only hear it in situations like corporate team building exercises, and "feel good" videos; so how seriously could we take it? "Step out of our comfort zones"? Really, that is some out-there hippie speak, right? Silly Hippies, get back to your tie-dying and other hippie stuff.

So OBVIOUSLY "stepping out of our comfort zones" is so some goofy idealist instruction we should just forget about, right?

WRONG.

I'm sorry to have mislead you up until this point, loving reader, but I just had to make sure we were so far into this article that you couldn't turn back. Like every horror movie ever, you've gotten too far into the woods and you don't have enough gas to turn around. Now i'm gonna murder you with an ax of self-growth! 
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Well now your old-"afraid to try new things"-self is dead (I'm currently burying it, bee-tee-dubs), and we're gonna talk about why you HAVE to try stepping out of your comfort zone. 

We as people aren't meant to be static characters, we're meant to be dynamic ones. While I'm using some literary terms here, what it really means is that we're meant to change and grow. Everyday we change a little bit, and we're not the same exact person that got into bed last night. The experiences we go through, even the tiny ones, help us grow into (hopefully) better people everyday. We're constantly improving and evolving, changing and adapting to the world around us.

(Sadly, your evolution probably doesn't look this freakin' METAL)

For that reason, stepping out of our comfort zones is INTEGRAL to our positive self-growth. We have to try new and sometimes even scary things so we can garner those new experiences. For example, taking that intimidating trip to a country across sea may lead you to discover a passion in foreign cuisine, or maybe even a whole new language you'd like to learn. Every time we try that "scary new thing", we're allowing ourselves to step into a whole new world of experiences; and with that, a whole new set of ways to grow as a person. Maybe one day you finally sing at karaoke bar, despite your previous fear of getting on stage, and end up meeting the person of your dreams. If we never break our everyday rut of "safe" repetitive activities, we'll never get a real chance at that evolution I had mentioned. 

Will you turn into a hardcore death metal dragon like that last gif? No, probably not, but you might just turn into a deeper, more complex person. 

That's right, deeper AND complex, like that one really cool person you knew in high school. 

(Yeah, THAT guy...)

So seriously, get out there, and try a whole bunch of new things. Whether it's something small, like trying a new flavor of ice cream, or something big and scary, like taking the chance to go sky diving, DO IT. Every time you step out of the comfort zone, you're racking up a new experience under your belt; and with that you improve as a person. Maybe you'll find a new hobby, someone or something you love, or possibly even nothing at all; But no matter what your new encounter brings, you've grown as a person.

SO REMEMBER:

Less of this:

More of this:

Have fun!!!!