Exploring More & Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone

By: Jena, Happiness and Wellness Coach, Certificates (Not AI)

Find out all the ways you can learn, explore new things, embrace your fears, and the countless benefits that await you when you step outside your comfort zone! Are you learning something new everyday? Are you having enough new experiences?

Has life been a bit monotonous, boring, or routine? One of the reasons I had to move to a new state because I was bored of the same old things, and I wanted to explore more and have more adventures. And I have!  

There is a lot to gain from exploring outside our comfort zone. Exploring outside our comfort zone could be anything from embracing a fear of heights to learning about another person’s culture.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”—Neale Donald Walsch

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Learn About Something NEW

Explore a different culture, research some historical events, learn how something works, learn more about psychology to better understand others, learn about self-improvement, health, etc. Find an educational podcast, Youtube channel, blog, or book. Get to know some people on a deeper level (ask in-depth questions, ask about dreams and goals).

I’ve found over the years the more interest I take in learning, the more I have grown in ways I didn’t even think was possible.

There is always time to learn and grow. HOWEVER, many people get stuck in the daily grind of everyday life and miss out on all the opportunities.

If you know you are going to have a boring day at work, you can plan to read an insightful book in the morning or before you go to bed at night. If you know you won’t learn anything new during your day, try and find an educational podcast to listen to on the way home from work or on the way back.

Learn Something New Every Day

Lately, my husband and I have been asking each other after work, what did you learn today? It is a great goal for us to have because not only does it give us something to talk about, but we feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day when we learned something worth sharing. If you have a kid, ask them what they learned. Tell them it doesn’t have to be related to school work. They might have something cool to teach you.

We don’t have to learn something from our jobs. Maybe we learned something interesting from the radio, something we researched in our free time, or something a co-worker taught us. What we learned doesn’t even have to be monumental. It could be for example: I learned today how such and such works, I learned how to cook brisket (this is what my husband is learning in his free time), I learned what all the positions of a cat’s tail mean (shockingly you can learn a lot from their tails).

I wouldn’t consider “_____ celebrity is getting a divorce” as learning something. I feel gossip isn’t really learning something because it doesn’t help you in any way. A lot of what you learn may not have any impact on your day-to-day life. However, if you make a habit of learning something new every day, you’ll increase your chances of learning something meaningful or important.

There is Always Time to Learn

You could learn something new in your free time vs scrolling social media! I rarely learn anything worth sharing from scrolling my social media. It is a lot of news, what my friends are up to, for me personally all the silly things cats do that are adorable, and lots of other random stuff. It is fun to look at, but it often doesn’t add value to my day.

Even if it isn’t relevant to your career, take a course on something that interests you.

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Have NEW Experiences

If you feel bored with life, if life often feels monotonous, that it is definitely a good time to try something NEW! There is a feeling of accomplishment that comes from trying new things.

Take a trip to somewhere unique and learn about the culture or history of that place, explore a nearby city, do something exhilarating, try a new sport, try a new activity/hobby, learn a dance, learn to play an instrument, etc,

Experience New Foods

Do you eat out at the same restaurants all the time? Do you make a lot of the same recipes? Mix it up!

After moving to South Carolina I realized there was a lot of amazing cuisine I was missing out on! Since moving here I’ve eaten Colombian food, Persian food, Pad Thai, and a favorite now is BBQ.

I have never liked BBQ, living in Wisconsin. I would only eat it if it was the only option, and even then I would avoid it at all costs. The same goes for brussels sprouts, I never had any I enjoyed. After moving to the South I gave both BBQ and brussels sprouts another try. Shockingly, I’m in love with both now! In fact, I make sure I have some BBQ once a month.

Our tastes change. So even though you didn’t like something 10 years ago, give it another try! You might not feel the same way about it, or you might find it is good depending on how it is cooked.

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Try An Activity You Fear

Everyone is afraid of something, but wouldn’t you like to be the person who doesn’t allow fear to control your life? Just because someone is trying something you think is very scary, doesn’t mean they don’t think so too, it just means they are not letting that stop them. Often when we fear our minds create the worst-case scenario, which is often the least likely scenario.

I was afraid to go whitewater rafting, but I just knew it would be a fun experience. I was extremely nervous, but the first time I went it was a really fun time. Not so much the second time. So FYI if you do go whitewater rafting, go with friends, don’t trust your life to strangers. However, even though the second time was scary and not so fun, the adventure ended up being a great story. If we just follow a routine, eat at the same restaurants, do the same hobbies day in and day out, we don’t develop new memories. Memories are created through new experiences, and even when they don’t go well, they can turn into a good story.

We don’t have to do the things we fear the most, like for me that would be something like sky diving, but doing something that we fear a bit is worth a try!

I had a lot of fears about networking. However, I thought it would be the best way to grow my marketing business, and it was! Still today, I see the benefits. Today, the world defines your worth by your network and the people you know. Whether it is online or offline, meeting people has become a measure of success. View more on this in my blog Why We NEED Community & How To Find It.

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Why Experience & Explore NOW!

Learn now, experience life now, find new skills, do what you love to do, don’t wait for one day! One day may never come. We can’t do all the things on our lists, especially if our lists keep growing. I have done the bigger things on my lists, and I feel content with how I have lived my life thus far. I have no major regrets. Of course I still have more dreams, more I want to do, see, and learn.

There was a time when I thought, oh I will do that some day, later on in life. But then I saw someone else living out one of my dreams, and I said to myself “why not now?” You might say, “I will do that after my kids grow up,” or “when I retire,” but life is happening now. I have actually heard people in their 60s and even 80s saying they wish they did such and such when they were younger.

I also hear of people retiring and are overwhelmed by the thought of having so much free time. And I think about all the hobbies, activities, places I want to see, things I want to learn and experience, and I feel if I retired today I would be happy (you know if I had the money). I think it must feel harder to experience and find what you love to do, when you wait for someday. So don’t wait!

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SO Many Benefits!

We were designed to learn, explore, and adventure outside our comfort zone.

Human beings are born curious—a trait that we somehow lose as the burdens of responsibility weigh heavily on our shoulders (Hill, 2023)

Improved Mental Health

Trying new things stimulates the brain which can help with cognitive function long-term. It can help you to be more creative, be more open-minded, improve critical thinking, problem-solving, focus, etc. When you engage in a new experience, the brain is likely to release dopamine, which improves your mood (Hall, 2024). We can find a variety of ways to stand out more in the workplace and in life, which leads to greater success.

Experiences not only create great stories, they give us more to share with the world! If we remain stagnant in our views on how the world works, how people should live, the things that we believe, and we never try to see other people’s points of view, we miss out on a lot of opportunities. New experiences allow for changes in perspective.

Discovering Who We Are

Gaining new skills and interests allows us to stand out in the workplace and opens the doors to more opportunities in life. The more we explore and discover the world, the more we discover what we like and don’t like, who we are, and how we fit into the world. We become a more integral part of the world.

More Joy!

Of course, new skills and interests also can lead to greater joy! We gain more joy through having less fear, creating more memories, appreciating things more, becoming mentally sharper, and understanding ourselves better. What’s not to like?

Less Fear, Less Fear of Failure

Interestingly, when we journey outside our comfort zone it gets easier to do it again and again. We might find it wasn’t as frightening as we initially thought. Sometimes things might not go as planned, but we learn how to bounce back from them. It can also become easier to do more things we fear as the sting of failure or disappointment becomes less painful over time. This can increase our confidence as when we face our fears we become more confident and brave.

Failing at different things has become easier on me, as I’ve learned to journey outside my comfort zone. I tried to start a new business last year, and realized I underestimated the level of interest in the product/service I was creating. So instead of blaming myself for the time I wasted, the resources I spent, I looked at all the things I learned. I found it helped me find the next best thing on my health journey, which is huge! I also learned how to ask the right questions to evaluate the level of interest people have in a new business idea. Of course, I also learned a lot of other things that I may or may not use in the future. But in the end I didn’t at all feel like a failure because I realized I was meant to fail to grow. I also found myself excited to work on my next dream, as I have many.

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Resources

Hill, Jacqueline T. (2023, August 18). Life Hack/14 Reasons To Always Try New Things in Life
Retrieved from: https://www.lifehack.org/902478/try-new-things

Hall Ph.D., Karyn. (2024, March 18). Psychology Today/Doing Something New Is Good for You.
Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pieces-of-mind/202201/doing-something-new-is-good-for-you

Passmore, Brittany. (2021, April 28). LDSPMA/7 Reasons Why You Should Try New Things.
Retrieved from: https://www.ldspma.org/7-reasons-why-you-should-try-new-things/