S-t-r-e-t-c-h

 Quit living from that comfort zone. -Hulk Hogan

Living in a comfort zone provides no adventure or excitement, we become complacent and become trapped in routines.  Why not stretch your zone a little?  Be brave, build confidence.  Forget what other people think about you.  This is a huge obstacle for me...why do I care so much about someone else's opinion?  It's their problem not mine, right?  Problem is, I don't want people to think I'm weirder than I am (is that even possible anyhow?).  We're all human, and nobody's perfect.  So making a mistake isn't a death sentence and seeming weirder than normal isn't much different than being strange in the first place.  Right? Facing the fear of looking stupid is small in the grand scheme of life.  There are better things to do than sitting paralyzed with worry.  Be proactive.  Embrace discomfort.


I am so not a risk taker.  I weigh out the outcomes so long opportunities continually pass by.  You know the saying about paving a road with good intentions.  No?  Well it isn't good where the pavement ends up.  I mean well, but I can't let go, so my intentions still get me nowhere.  So if what you do isn't working, the need now is to focus on the joy of the journey and see where it leads.  Accept things happen for a reason, and understand not everything goes according to plan.  If it did, we'd all be bored anyhow.  Life is not predictable, yet we set ourselves up for the disappointment when we expect perfection. Embrace the unknown.  (EEEP!)


I love it when my husband tells me to change my perspective.  Okay, I really and truly hate it...because he's usually right.  I was not born with the gift of racing into the unknown.  I am a creature of habit and I like order.  He, on the other hand wreaks havoc and insists rules are meant to be bent, twisted and stretched just to see if they'll break.  It makes me crawl deeper into my comfort zone just to see if I can hide when things hit the fan.  But really, why should we not get excited about the unknown?  To feel the anticipation of endless possibilities instead of the anxiety of tunnel vision?  My stern, librarian-esque non-risk-taker self reminds me not to confuse stretching my comfort zone with being reckless.  There's a difference, yes, and I doubt I'd break out of my little bubble without understanding what I'm in for.