The Art of Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

This Thursday I will be participating on a panel with four other fellow Orlando bloggers, talking to a room of PR professionals.

While the main reason I agreed to do it was to give myself and my blogs greater exposure, a close secondary reason was to push myself out of my comfort zone.

See, the truth of the matter is I hate speaking to large groups of people. Just the thought of it fills me with anxiety.

But I know if I don’t push myself past the anxiety and dread, I’ll miss out on some fabulous experiences. And all signs point to this being a fabulous experience.

So I will tell those naysayer voices in my head to take a hike, I’ll take a deep breath, and I will throw myself in at the deep end, praying for the universe to catch me.

It usually does.

Oh sure, my nerves may make my voice tremor slightly. I may get a tiny case of the clumsies. But when all is said and done, I will emerge better for the experience.

Because one of the main things I’ve learned over the years is your life will never change if you don’t occasionally step outside of your comfort zone. If you don’t push yourself to be just a little better and stronger than you think you are.

If you keep yourself in that box, where everything is comfortable and you just cruise along in life, you miss some great opportunities and experiences that are just on the other side of that box.

I’m not saying to go out, strap on a bungee rope and jump off a bridge…because that’s not something I would do. But it’s ok to do things that give you small butterflies. Try new things or challenge yourself to be a little bolder.

I’ve noticed since my fight with cancer, I’m more willing to take small risks. To do things I’ve never tried, or retry things I didn’t get the hang of the first time. I guess I look at it this way: If I can beat cancer, what can speaking in a room of people do to me?

That’s not to say it still doesn’t make me nervous. Just that I plan to do it anyway, and see what happens.

Wish me luck!

Facebook Comments

About the Author
Latest Posts

About zengrrl

I'm Michelle Snow, the writer and creator of Zengrrl. I write about travel, entertainment, women's issues, health, body positivity, and more, both for this blog and freelance. I have also authored/co-authored four guidebooks on Orlando and Florida. If you aren't already following me, the links are below, as well as on the top right of this page. Thanks!