Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

com·fort zone

/ˈkəmfərt zōn/

a place or situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress.

Comfort zones have the ability to either make or break us. We can choose to be confined to our comfort zone or we can choose to grow out of our comfort zone. I am content in my comfort zone and I used to let it limit me, often times it still does. A comfort zones can be defined as doing what feels safe to you, whether that is the people you associate with all being very similar to you or simply staying in the same eating and working out routines, our comfort zones have the ability to define us. My comfort zone is visiting the same restaurants where I have my usual order in mind like Hyvee Chinese, seeing the same people at the same time every other day, and staying my bubble of DeWitt (with the occasional run to Davenport for Coffee Revolution). In order to give way to fixated and repeated patterns, and take a risk for once, I chose to do one thing each day for a week to get out of my safety net of my comfort zone.

Wednesday 4/17- Having a barista surprise me with my smoothie

To start leaving my comfort zone I decided a small change, so I paid a visit my favorite smoothie place in the Quad Cities, Fresh Blends. Having been there almost every day of last summer and occasionally throughout the 2019 year, I’d become pretty familiar with their menu and the process of selecting one of their mouth-watering drinks. My go to beverage is anything with blueberries and blackberries, but I was ready for a surprise. To get out of the habit of ordering the same thing every time, I decided to ask the girl to surprise me with any drink on the vast menu. After the short wait for my mystery drink, I was pleasantly surprised. The staff made me a Banana Nut Blast with whey protein. It felt so good to try something different there, I definitely had one of those “where has this been all my life?” moments, so if you’re headed to Fresh Blends anytime soon, the Banana Nut Blast is a great drink to try out!

Thursday 4/18 - Writing About Myself

Thursday’s out of my comfort zone task was to actually begin writing this article about myself, which I’ve never done. Ever. To me, writing about oneself never seemed like it was something just anyone could do. I always figured you’d have to have a crazy interesting life or be someone so famous people will actually buy your autobiographies that are assorted throughout Barnes & Noble, but that isn’t true whatsoever. Anyone can write about themselves, ever heard of a journal? People that keep journals typically write about their lives, their day, what they ate, what they saw what they experienced, and things they did. Key word in that sentence: they. Real people can write real things about their real lives, it doesn’t have to be published but the point is anyone can write about themselves. It may seem (really) uncomfortable at first, but once the apprehensions of “what will people think of me” and “I sound way too self absorbed” pass, writing about yourself feels pretty dang good.

Friday 4/19 - See a Scary Movie

I hate scary movies. I absolutely love psychological thrillers though such as Get Out (2017) and The Butterfly Effect (2004). Movies that either make me laugh until I’m crying or are thought provoking are my favorite genres, but scary movies with lots of jump scares? NOPE. Naturally to flee my comfort zone I decided to go and see the latest showing of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Honestly, I didn’t enjoy the movie that much, while I jumped a few times and covered my eyes because I was afraid of what was going to happen next at least once, the movie overall wasn’t that scary. While I wouldn’t see it again, I feel as though it built my tolerance of watching scary movies. So who knows, maybe I’ll go see another one in the near future.

Saturday 4/20- Get rid of anything I do not use anymore

Saturday’s are always busy for me: I work at my second job in the morning from 7:45 - 12, and then typically head off to my main job around either four or five until whenever at night. I definitely never have a “free saturday to do anything I want” but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. Within the four to five hour break between jobs I usually either take a nap, or go work out before I head to a coffee shop to get a head start on some homework (I live on the edge, I know). This Saturday was different though, in order to exit my comfort zone I decided to clean out clothes from my closet that I haven’t worn in over a year. Eventually I got the job done, filled up two huge trash bags of clothes and shoes, and had my room looking like a tornado swept through it. Was it worth it? Totally. Will I do it again? Probably… in a year.

Sunday 4/21- Listen to New Music

Like many, I’ve fallen into listening to the same five playlists throughout my day / week. They’re usually my car, focus, country, rap, and shower playlists. Not that I don’t love them all, but hearing the same songs on repeat for a while can become dull. So, as any other individual would do, I set out to find something new to listen to, and stumbled upon “New Music Friday” by spotify. As I hit shuffle play, I challenged myself to not skip any of the songs that I didn’t know (which was essentially all of them), creating a totally new and foreign experience for my ears and brain to process. If I’m listening to music, I almost all of the time have to sing off key as loud as possible when appropriate, but when listening to new music and not knowing any of the lyrics, it was pretty impossible to do so. If you’re on a quest for new music but aren’t sure what new music you need in your life, I highly recommend Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist!

Monday 4/22-Think Positive Thoughts

This day was somewhat challenging for my out of comfort zone task which was to use only positive reinforcement and not complain at all. I tend to see myself as an overall positive person, but even when a super minor inconvenience occurs, I can get overly annoyed about it, usually leaving me to be in that state of annoyance for thirty minutes before I don’t even remember what I was annoyed about. The dread of going to soccer practice and thinking of the stacks of homework I had to work through was hitting me hard. Instead of complaining and looking negatively at the situation, I realized I was extremely grateful I have the ability to play a sport I love with my friends, no matter the day. Throughout the day using only positive reinforcement became easier and easier, until I didn’t feel as though I was out of my comfort zone, it just felt natural.

Tuesday 4/23 - Switching Up Routines

Instead of doing something I would do in the morning, I decided to do it at night and vice versa. I’m a big fan of morning showers, they wake me up and make me feel as though I’m ready for the day. So, taking a shower Monday night and not Tuesday morning kind of threw me off a bit. I woke up and was thinking “I have all this time, what do I do now?”. I somehow felt more calm and not as rushed Tuesday morning though, I wasn’t worrying about time crunching in order to leave for school on time. I also ate breakfast for once, which was weird since I never get the chance due to waking up later than I should. As the day progressed on I decided to go for a run at night after my soccer game, which I occasionally do anyway, but this time without taking a three minute break just to walk and catch my breath a bit. Doing this wasn’t easy whatsoever, I am terrible at running, and even though I’m gradually learning to love it, it wasn’t easy to keep pushing myself to not just give up. I’m honestly really proud of myself, because even though I may have felt like I couldn’t breathe and was the sorest I’d ever been, I felt way better after it, my serotonin really came through and made my (switched up) nightly routine a lot better.

Wednesday 4/24 - Try a New Food

The last day of my comfort zone challenge I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I decided to take my taste buds out of their comfort zone while at Azteca in Davenport. I hate spicy foods. So. Much. Trying the hottest salsa Azteca had wasn’t fun whatsoever, but wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be. I wasn’t on the verge of tears, my mouth was definitely hot but it wasn’t too bad. Would I try it again? No way.

Over the course of a week of doing things I normally wouldn’t do, I realized doing things out of the ordinary is vital in life. If we fall into these fixated ideas about what life is supposed to be like based on previous experiences, we will fail to be exposed to new experiences, foods, people and ideas. So next time you’re thinking about taking a risk or doing something new, DO IT. Living life out of your comfort zone doesn’t always come naturally or feel “right”, but it’s beyond worth it for the amount of change and growth we can undergo when we finally flee our hidden trap of comfort zones.

- Olivia Ziegler