You need to go outside your comfort zone – no, I really don’t!

Before you protest, please read on and let me explain.

Rethinking “outside your comfort zone is where life happens”!

You hear all these stories about people becoming successful once they step outside their comfort zone. Good for them and more power to them! But is that REALLY what happened? Yes, they tried something new and yes, it was scary. I would argue though that going outside your comfort zone doesn’t lead to growth. You step out you step right back in – that’s it.

All you’re proving to yourself and everybody else is that you can do something scary and then go hide in your comfort zone again. I really don’t see any growth here, do you? It might actually reinforce your comfort zone and hinder growth as the zone stays firmly intact.

But how do we grow?

How about expanding our comfort zone rather than stepping outside of it? My podcast is a good example [back to edit: the podcast no longer exists - it got deleted when Callin was sold]. I could have just started one – sure. I don’t think I would have though. I needed to expand my comfort zone bit in order for my own podcast to come within reach. I started by calling into a friend’s podcast, then I called into other people’s podcasts and all this led to my own. That wasn’t the plan, but I’ll take it and I’m enjoying it. And yes, it was really scary to just randomly call into podcasts and asking questions. Expanding your comfort zone will still be plenty scary and you’ll be doing new things on your own terms.

Walking across Switzerland

I started long distance hiking – like proper routes from A to B in several stages in early 2022. I looked at the stages and was like “no way!”. So, I picked my own stages. Staying with the pre-planned route, but instead of 10 stages there were around 20. I walked from Lake Constance to Basel (190km / 119 mi) mostly along the Rhine. Starting way out in Kreuzlingen felt a bit too far. So, I started right across the hills in Laufenburg and walked close to home first, before expanding out a bit. Now I’m on my third route and it’s getting a bit scary again. Next up is hiking across the Alps. There’s a reason you don’t start with that! You also need a certain fitness level and hiking endurance to do it safely, I guess.

What I’m trying to say is, try new things, but it’s perfectly okay to do them your way and to adapt them in a way that suits you. I’m still plenty nervous about crossing the Alps and kind of glad it’s been raining a lot. That’s a great excuse! The Alps are not a place where you want to slip and fall. I’ll take it slow and walk shorter stages than other people. It’s all about the experience and I have no doubts that I can do it. I will be pushing myself. There will also be a lot of swearing. Possibly more so on the way down than on the way up. Reminds me to practice my swearing in Italian.

It also helps that I know the language(s) and I know how things work here. I feel very safe solo hiking in Switzerland. I’ve also done it in Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands. Three very different experiences. I know there’s people out there who really want me to walk the Camino de Santiago. Never say never, but I think I’m doing something much cooler. Solo hiking across the Alps! How many people do you know who have done that? And I mean regular overweight people who don’t live in the mountains. I said I would walk the Camino or parts of it under one condition – so, somebody better get writing … As things stand, I have my eye on the Jura Crest Trail next or I might walk from Oslo to Trondheim.

Just do it!

You know your comfort zone is there for a reason. It’s trying to not get you killed. That doesn’t mean it can’t be expanded. Do the scary things, but maybe do them in smaller steps. THIS is how growth happens. Go for it! Step by step. You might like it. By expanding your comfort zone instead of stepping outside of it, you stay in control. It’ll still be scary, you will still be doing and daring to do new things just on your own terms. It’s worth it. Trust me!

Yes, this might all be semantics, but I’m a linguist. Analyzing language is what I do. And the language we use matters – a lot.