Being Uncomfortable

My comfort zone is all warm and red. There are velvety couches with colorful pillows, plush rugs that make your toes sigh in pleasure. Sometimes Vivaldi plays softly in the background, sometimes Jay-Z wants you to brush the dirt off your shoulder. In here, everything goes exactly the way I want it to. There are no surprises, and everything ends perfectly.

Which means sometimes things get dull.

You get that I'm talking about my psychological comfort zone, right? I don't really have a room that's all red and cozy. But my mental comfort zone is as strong as any physical comfort zone I've ever had, and lately I feel like it's more a bad thing than good.

"How, Kate?" you ask. "It seems like such a lovely place."

It is. I love it there. But it's keeping me from trying new things and growing in different directions. For instance, I've been looking for an apartment the past couple weeks, and I was thinking of moving back into my old neighborhood. It felt so familiar...

And so wrong. 

So I found an apartment in a new neighborhood. Do I feel trepidations? Hell yeah. I don't know the neighborhood well—I don't have places to hang out. I don't know where to get the best Chinese takeout or which market has the best vegetables. But it's exciting at the same time, because I have the opportunity to try new things and find new favorites.

I'm at the same stage in my writing too. I do what I do well, but maybe it's time to step out and try something a little different. To challenge myself. To try an unknown. 

I know, I know—it's scary stepping out. Things are foreign, and good outcomes aren't guaranteed. Only how do you know that what's waiting isn't a hundred times better than what you have? So while it's unknown, the hope of great things exists.

What does your comfort zone look like? What do you wear when you're there? What keeps you coming back, and how is it inhibiting you from growing? What new, scary territory would you want to explore if you stepped out of your comfort zone?