“The biggest rewards in life are found outside your
comfort zone. Live with it. Fear and risk are prerequisites if you want to
enjoy a life of success and adventure.” ~ Jack Canfield
Last week I spent four full
days in class. This time was neither
spent behind a desk, hiding behind the safety of a computer, nor quietly
listening and hoping no one called on me.
This was not four days of down time, to have a nice dinner, or to go out
for a few beers to bide my quiet evenings alone until the next session
began. This was 8+ hours standing at the
front of the class, teaching the class through slides, explanations, demos and
exercises. My night times were spent
with a quick dinner, catching up on emails, making phone calls and prepping for
the next day’s class. I was out front,
talking, teaching and being “on” the entire four days. As someone who leans slightly towards the
introvert side, this was a tiring week, where I stepped out of my comfort to
help others on their journey.
The truth is, I am comfortable
giving presentations – they are of a fixed length and the longest one I had
given to date was a one-hour seminar.
Did I know I was stepping outside that comfortable circle I had drawn
around myself? Yes. Was I scared / nervous? Yes.
Doing something you have not done before always brings about a feeling
of displacement and triggers that little voice in our heads where doubt is
created and the constant reminder that you have never done this before.
Having dealt with the world of
change over the last 20+ years, I am able to spot some of the language people
use to protect those imaginary borders they have erected around
themselves. It can appear as a
reminiscence (“I remember…”, “The we use to…”), as an alternate solution (“I
would have…”), or even as a warning (“This did not work last time…”). These are people who are comfortable where
they are, are afraid to leave the place where they are comfortable or simply
fear what they do not know or understand.
If I am being completely honest, these types of thoughts do appear at
the edge of my own personal comfort zone.
In my house, Debbie spent many
years as a nursery school teacher. I
watched her prepare for her classes. Gab
is currently a music teacher and I see the amount of time that she spends each
weekend in preparation for her week ahead.
As with any new venture, it is important to address your fears /
concerns head on and spend the time learning what you need, preparing ahead and
remembering why you are doing it. If you
have seen specials on stunt drivers, you see the amount of time and effort
spent before doing the most dangerous stunt to ensure that it is pulled of
successfully and safely. By the end of
the week, I was tired as it was a lot of effort to prepare and even more to do
the teaching. However, once the course
was completed, I reinforced my personal reasons for doing this. I had connected with the students to help
them on their journeys and was grateful to see the bulbs light up over their
heads as they had their own “a-ha” moments.
By expanding my comfort zone, I felt good about myself and what I was
able to do for others.
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are
living our fears.” ~ Les Brown
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