Double Dare You

Are you thinking about doing something out of your comfort zone? Maybe something that feels a little wacky or uncomfortable? Possibly something that causes you to seize up and be afraid? Good for you!

Stepping outside your comfort zone has so many benefits and so few downsides that you'd be crazy not to do it. However, that's not what most of us do. We fantasize about it, we dream about it, but when the fear comes up or when others judge us for our desires, we close down and sit down squarely in the middle of our own personal comfortable box.

One of the main jobs of our egos is to keep us safe. The ego will advise us to stay the course, to choose "wisely" and be "rational", meaning to stay the same and don't take any risks. Our thoughts scare us into behaving ("I'll get hurt", "this wouldn't be good", "it can't turn out well, look at everyone else who has failed at this", etc.). Egos were formed mostly in early childhood. Things that were dangerous then, are no longer dangerous, but try to tell your ego that! This means that many of our thoughts about taking a risk or trying something new are based on faulty thoughts, beliefs and assumptions about what may happen.

Taking a calculated risk, stepping outside our comfort zone, trying something new and daring, all have benefits. Just a few of them are:

• we feel better, more exhilarated, more excitement and passion


• we win even if we fail because we always learn something about ourselves, we gain insight


• our lives take on new dimensions, we meet new people, we learn new skills, we often feel something new, we have new experiences


• we gain self-confidence


• these new experiences are often the "door opening" to something even bigger and better


• we look forward to these experiences with happy anticipation

I double dare you to step out, live large, be bold and experience life!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you're thinking about doing to step outside your comfort zone.