Some great things can happen outside the comfort zone.
I took this challenge on a few weeks ago by tackling on the fear of heights with an aerial obstacle course when I visited Loch Lomond. I hugged trees for real as I crossed the course.
My friend and I had looked at the course from the ground and said – that looks like fun! She said to me, shall we do it? Quickly I said ‘YES!’
It was only when I was at the start of the course on the first platform that I turned to her and said ‘Just to let you know, I’m not keen on heights…’
Bearing in mind, we are clipped into the steel rope and in sequence with a large queue of people behind us, so it was going to be difficult to back down on doing this.
She said incredulously ‘And you are telling me NOW?’
My response was, ‘I don’t want to let fear stop me from living!’
So with her behind me encouraging me on, ‘You’ve got this girl!’ I got started.
I won’t lie to you, my stomach was doing somersaults and my pulse was racing but I was taking the fear on.
We got to the end of the group of obstacles with a sigh of relief, only to hear the instuctor say from the ground, ‘O that’s just the easy course, there’s another harder one further on!’
So we continued and the challenges got harder, but I was gaining confidence as I was doing them. And when we did the last zip wire down to the ground, I was very tempted to kiss it being back on terra firma. Phew I made it! Wow but what an experience, it was brilliant and stretching at the same time and the views across the loch were breathtaking!
This experience very often mirrors the choices we have in life and especially in business. And it is explained in the Yerkes Dodson Curve.
We can stay in the comfort zone looking at exciting, adventurous opportunities and this safe space has the potential to make us feel a bit bored with the ease of it all and look on to new adventures and think – wow that looks amazing…
But stepping out of this place demands growth, and a huge learning curve as we need to face our fears and dangers and take on the heightened stress and challenge this new zone can bring. But in this place we can find ourselves coming alive, discovering things about ourselves we didn’t know and growing enormously as a result.
This TED Talk explains the positive parts of stress, by making stress your friend rather than your enemy, which helps us see getting out of the comfort zone as a very good thing. Well worth a watch.
I know I have stepped out of my comfort zone more times than ever before in doing my businesses. They have been hugely challenging but with each stretch I am learning and changing and discovering things that were hidden in the comfort zone. These steps have ended up changing the course and direction of my life in many different ways as well as changing me.
But these stretching challenges are optimised with a balance of rest and recuperation. As the curve depicts, staying in the place of challenge and stress for long periods of time without opportunities to decompress can lead to exhaustion, anxiety and ultimately burn out and breakdown.
But if we can monitor the level and stay within the growth and learning zone this can be a very beneficial experience. And exciting things can be discovered when we step outside of our comfort zone.
When I look at the pictures I ask myself, would I do it again, and the answer is yes I would, with more confidence and quicker than the first time. And when the next challenge comes that involves heights, I might just say to myself and do what this lady did in this picture… ‘Go girl, you’ve got this!’
How about you? Can you step out of your comfort zone today and take the fears that are holding you back head on?
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Love Anna
