Trusting in change & stepping outside your comfort zone...

For the most part, we tend to have an aversion to stepping outside our comfort zone. It’s daunting. Can be overwhelming. The unknown is often intimidating.

When we’re invited to make those steps, we’re likely to get caught up in this internal conflict that has us battling between staying as we are with all our comfort and security or stepping into the potential of who we can be. It’s inevitable. Our habits and patterns are so ingrained they make it difficult for us to leave them. It’s also a way of being tested to see how hungry we are for that change. How much we are willing to give of ourselves, in order to embrace the possibility of what can be experienced.

When I first made the decision to step outside my comfort zone, I came very close to prematurely cutting my journey short. Fear and uncertainty about the direction I was heading completely engulfed me. The first six months of my new life was foreign and unsettling. Despite the fact that during this time I’d come the closest I’d ever had to accomplishing some major successes with my writing, all I could focus on was that things weren’t moving fast enough. I thought about my old life interstate and all that I’d left behind.

Two months later I made a return visit to that old life, asking to claim it back

Fate has a funny way of steering your path. Some doors are not meant to be re-opened. I desperately clung to that old, withered life, convincing myself it’s what I wanted.

What saved me from pitifully crawling my way back was receiving some unexpected news that completely shook my foundations. Heartache added to my already fragile state. Nursing a bruised ego, the debris from the emotional shock waves continued to reverberate long after I’d closed the door of my old life behind me and boarded the plane to return to my new home alone.

Although I struggled with it at the time, hearing that news was the greatest gift I could’ve possibly received. It completely saved my life.

When we’re in the process of change, old patterns and beliefs often float to the surface. They are a teasing reminder that our old lives still lurk in the distance. When things are a struggle, when we’re in the process of navigating our way through new territory, we are tested even more. Those new foundations aren’t solid enough to support or overshadow lingering doubts. Our split selves are in constant conflict. The old and new battle for control. I could feel the clutches of my old life desperately taking hold, reeling me back to a numbing comfort and security, while the experiences I was having in my new life were reflecting all that was on the horizon and the direction my path was willing me to take.

There is nothing that can accelerate easing into our newly found selves. It evolves at its own pace. What strengthens and determines how willing we are to persevere is recognising the constant shifts that ebb and flow in a motion that keeps us entrusting the process. From time-to-time we struggle with our footing. The safety of what we know is far too comfortable. But that’s all it is. The safety of predictability limits us from experiencing all that being out of our comfort zone is urging us to experience – so that by leaning into that discomfort, we can enhance and extend ourselves more fully toward our potential.

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