Comfort Zone

Happy New Year! Cheers to 2023!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the “New year, new me” motto the first few days of the year. It’s a new year, so I’m going to start ………..fill in the blank with some healthy habit we weren’t successful in keeping up last year. Why do we delay starting something until the new year?

Is it because we’ve grown comfortable in our current habits? It’s easy to live in the “comfort zone”. It’s familiar. The comfort zone is what I know.

I started reading “The Tools” by Phil Stutz & Barry Michels after watching the documentary “Stutz” by Jonah Hill.

In the book, the authors point out that we live in a culture looking for its Comfort Zone, and that we weave the activities into our daily lives.

“Whatever your Comfort Zone consists of, you pay a huge price for it…The Comfort Zone is supposed to keep your life safe, but what it really does is keep your life small.”

I’ve reread this sentence several times, and reflected on my own comfort zones.

The authors are right, comfort can keep your life small. What if you could live your greatest life by getting out of your comfort zone?

My Example: Learning how to snowboard.

I was horrible when I first started snowboarding. There was a lot of falling, pain, anxiety, frustration, and self-doubt. It took me several seasons to actually learn how to carve, and several more seasons to actually see significant improvement.

The first two years, I purchased a 4-pack to Copper Mountain, but going four times a year really wasn’t really enough for me to feel good in my progress, so I started buying season passes and really embraced the “discomfort”. I would go at least 10 days in a season, and now 9 years later, it’s crazy to see how much I’ve improved and grown.

My friend once described me as one of the most “scared snowboarders he’s gone up to the mountain with”. He was right. I was scared.

I was stuck in a cycle. I had anxiety, which would feed into the overwhelming amount of fear I had about the pain from falling, which would make my body rigid and affect my movement, which would result in falling, which would feed into self-doubt. Then the cycle would repeat.

I was very lucky to have a group of supportive, and extremely patient friends who believed in me and saw my potential when I did not. I went from the most scared person who stuck to easy groomed trails, to someone who navigates different terrain: trees, (some) bowls, and even (some) black diamond trails.

I learned that it’s ok to have boundaries while snowboarding. I didn’t have to go down every trail, or through unknown terrain if I didn’t feel comfortable. I had become familiar enough with the mountains that if I got split it up from my group, it was ok. We would just meet at the bottom of the mountain near the lift lines, or we would figure out a way to navigate to meet back up. What I didn’t recognize at the time, was that I had anxiety over getting lost, so I would go down every trail my friends wanted to take. Sometimes, it would result in difficult terrain I was not mentally prepared for. I would get frustrated and lash out. Now, I choose to go down the trail I want, or if I’m feeling up for it, I follow them and check out a new trail, and use breathing techniques to help calm my anxiety.

I ended the year snowboarding on New Years Eve back at Copper Mountain. I think that was the first time I realized how much I had improved over the years. Had I not leaned into the “discomfort” I would not be where I am today. I am not an expert, but I can say that snowboarding is something I really enjoy, and I’m really proud of myself for sticking with it!

I hope to channel this energy for 2023, and continue to grow by leaving other comfort zones. I invite you to reflect on the comfort zones in your life, and identify the ones that may be holding you back, and I challenge you to join me in taking a small step away from our comfort zones in 2023. Let’s see where it takes us!