Ah, the dreaded comfort zones. The thing we hate to be stuck in, but also the thing we hate to move away from. It’s a double-edged sword. One minute you’re feeling down because you feel like life is passing you by and you’re just sitting here doing your same routine every day, and the next minute you’re terrified to go out and make actual changes.
What’s a high-achieving, introverted, motivated but procrastinating, exhausted woman to do?!?
Well, I’ll tell you a secret. You’ve actually been moving through and shifting your comfort zones every single day. Whether you realize it or not, you’re making progress. You’re building the life you want, it’s just not keeping up to speed with your imagination and your hopes and dreams.
What’s that now?
Yep. Every single day, you get one step closer to your dreams. In the podcast this week, we talk about finding something that you used to be scared of, that you now do every day. That’s the growth! That’s your comfort zones shifting! That’s the dream you’re searching for! Think about all of those accomplishments you’ve done because you allowed yourself to be brave and not let the fear take over.
We tend to forget, or ignore, all of the amazing things we’re capable of because as something gets easier for us, we don’t think of it as a major accomplishment anymore. It’s just that thing we do. But I encourage you to go back and remember when it wasn’t something easy for you. When it was something you were unsure of if it would be worth it.
What are some simple steps you’ve taken this week to improve your life? They all count!
You paid all the bills on time this month. Good for you!
You sent the email you were terrified of sending. Bravo!
You went on that date from the dating app. YES!
You created a habit of making you bed. Go girl!
You made yourself a priority and took care of yourself today. Beautiful!
Seriously, just think about the small things that made you uncomfortable, or that you didn’t want to do, but you did them anyway. That’s the beautiful thing in life. Despite what we think, we don’t need grand gestures or huge outcomes to know that we’re being successful. It’s in the small steps we do every day where growth really happens and where we make the most difference.
Story time. Sixty days ago, I saw a manifestation Instagram reel that said “mark down 60 days on your calendar from today. Something amazing is going to happen that day”. I was like, sure, what the heck, I’ll participate for fun. The entire time, I expected it to just be something small. So I just kept on doing my thing. Working hard, working toward my goals, putting myself out there to grow my business, and stepping a little bit out of my comfort zone each day.
This morning, my phone pinged that it was 60 days since I saw that reel. As a mindfulness practitioner, I was fully-convinced I’d just be able to use my skill of practicing gratitude to find something small that made the day a little bit better and call it a manifestation success.
So I headed over to a local coffee shop to meet an old colleague/friend I hadn’t seen in ages. As we were catching up, she mentioned she had started a business of her own, but she had no idea where to start with marketing herself, getting her business out there, and finding customers. She wanted to know if I was still “into all that”, becuase she heard from a friend that I could maybe help her.
I was in disbelief. I practically shouted across the shop, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? That 100% accurately describes my business! What you just asked for help on is practically my elevator pitch!”
Long story short, on the 60th day after writing my manifestation date down on my calendar, I now have my first major long-contract client, who I deeply believe in, and we are going to move mountains together!!! It was a match made in heaven. Or a manifestation with the universe, if you will. OR, maybe it was just the fact that I didn’t expect anything big in return for my hard work and the small steps I took along the way to organically build my business is beginning to pay off and in big ways.
So moral of the story is to stop waiting around for big things to happen. Small steps create big change. Just keep pushing along, knocking those comfort zones out of the park, and creating new comfort zones.
Now go listen to the podcast, episode 25, to help you dive deeper into your own comfort zone shifts.
