Getting out of your comfort zone

A friend once told me that you should do something every day to get out of your "comfort zone". That friend is about to have her first child any day now, so boy will she be taking her own advice soon! :-)

I think that it is easy for any of us to get wrapped up in a zone where everything is familiar. We socialize with the same people, work with the same people at the same place daily, shop at the same places, and entertain ourselves in the same old ways. There's nothing that makes this entirely wrong, since we are creatures of habit and these routines bring us security. However, if we don't break out of these routines every now and then, we miss out on opportunities to learn, grow, be enriched, and just have fun.

In the past week, I am proud to say I did two things that were out of my comfort zone! Last weekend, I went to a Demolition Derby! The friends that invited us could not believe that, being from the south, we had never been to one of these. I'm still processing what all that was implying, LOL. Anyway, I went, having no idea what to expect except a lot of noise and cars crashing into one another. I could not believe how much fun I had! It was so entertaining that I would probably go to another one!

The second thing required much more discomfort on my part. I was recruited to play in a softball game with the police department. The city organized a little "tournament" with various departments. Public Works had 2 teams, there was a Parks & Recreation team, and then us. There had to be 3 girls on each team, and you needed 10 people to play. A friend of mine was playing as well, and that helped. She has never been a ball player, either. :-) I played when I was very young, but I was never really any good.

Early in the game, they stuck me out in right field, and our opponents figured out I was the weak link and hit balls straight to me, which I of course didn't stop very well. The first one stressed me out a little, then I remembered I was supposed to be having fun. When it was our turn at bat, I actually hit the ball! I never struck out, and I made it on base several times. I almost scored once or twice, and I batted one of our runs in, so I contributed! My friend was actually the first person on our team to get on base! It was girl power all the way. We lost, but I had a GREAT time, and I got a GREAT workout. Bonus! Best of all, I felt really good about myself for getting out there and trying.