Over the last several years I have spent a lot of time outside of my "personal bubble" or my comfort zone. It all started in earnest in 2009 although I can remember small incidents of breaking out of the zone throughout my life. I can say though that 2009 was the start of a prolonged dipping of the toes into the mire of the unknown. Whew!
As humans we can be drawn into the easy or the comfortable. We use the fear of the unknown to keep us on the path we currently walk. Terms like security, risk, unknown, danger and such come up when one expresses to another person an idea that does not fit within the "norm". How many people do you know personally that stay in a dead end job or relationship or club because they are too stuck in their comfort zone, however destructive, to try to crawl out.
My leap was totally not a leap. My venture started with weight loss. A decision to change the way I ate. That's it. Nothing more than that. But then was that really all that it was? NO!!! The decision to eat differently was actually a huge, huge leap outside my comfort zone. My family, co-workers and friends were used to one kind of Kathi - and suddenly, really suddenly, here was a new one. Their discomfort at my change could have stalled me right there. Their negative feedback, however misguided and from their own place of fear, disguised as knowing what's best or me, could have derailed everything and I could be that same person today. I didn't listen however. From there the steps outside kept coming. First entering the world of fitness professionals (kicking and screaming - I never meant to become a trainer), to teaching IN FRONT OF PEOPLE..OH MY GOD... to giving seminars and talks about fitness and health, to blogging and putting it all out there...and who knows what is to come. You all should know this about me....I am really comfortable addressing or speaking to a room full of people...the more the better. Put me in front of one or two people OR ask me to do something physical in front of someone and I want to lose my cookies. Heart pounding, sweating, shaking, wanna run for the hills nervous. But I learned something along the way about myself and very recently a good friend through her network put into words for me exactly how I manage to get through this. Drumroll please.
20 seconds of courage. That's it. Where I have stepped outside my comfort zone I have needed 20 seconds of courage. Some things take 20 seconds...pushing send on an email, saying hello or approaching someone, saying no etc. Some other things require you to get through the first 20 seconds to realize you are not going to barf, your clothes aren't going to disintegrate and you are not going to fall on your face. 20 seconds....that's it. My group fitness students will hear me echo in their heads....you can do anything for 20 seconds, come on...get going. So that's what I have done!, by the way, I have only just begun...I am nowhere near finished JUMPING outside my comfort zone. I'm just getting warmed up. I am telling you this for one reason and one reason only. If a small town, insecure, overweight, terrified, SHY girl can find her voice and her passion...you can too! Just take 20 seconds and get over it!
Kathi
