In this “day and age” of overzealous hustle (read my rants on it here and here), enjoying your comfort zone might as well be akin to deliberately hugging a newborn baby if you’re typhoid Mary.
How Important Is Comfort To You?
Comfort is really important to me. I can’t create from a position of stress. And that could be physical stress, or any other kind.
Financial Stress
A few years ago I was working part time, though not entirely by choice. I like the idea of working part time but I also can’t pay for two adults and a dog on a part time income. By all the inspirational “stuff” on the internet, that part time work would have been my opportunity to pick up more freelance work or take my blog full time. But I couldn’t. As the sole income earner, I was so worried about paying rent and buying food and medication that I spent my time applying for jobs and attending interviews. When you can’t afford your life, then looking for a job is your full time job. I had more time (in theory) and I wrote less. Being under stress just doesn’t work for me.
Physical Stress
I don’t know if this is exactly the right term to use, but when I tried to record a podcast last year, it came out weird. Part of it was the topic, for sure. I hadn’t hit on the right topic and was talking like a robot. But the other part was that I felt awkward using my microphone. It’s a good microphone by an awesome brand (Rode) but I felt like I had to bend to meet the microphone. I also had a really squeaky chair, so I was sitting a lot stiller than I like it. (I hate sitting still.) The feeling of being physically “off” also would not have helped an already awkward podcast.
Embrace The Comfort Zone
I’m still nutting out exactly what I want to do with my podcast. All I know is that it won’t be interview style as that has always been a massive failure point for me in being on others podcasts; I’m out of the house 11-12 hours per day with work and commute, and people do not want to work around my schedule. In that way, I’m embracing my comfort zone of being 99% sure that any podcast I do will be a solo show.
I’ve been wanting to start a podcast for years but I never feel like it’s quite the right “thing”. And if you heard the episodes I recorded and never released, you’d see why I need to be in my comfort zone! (Honestly, it was awful. It was on blogging and I said things like “a written post is one you wrote”. No one needs to hear that!!
This weekend just gone, I was fiddling with microphone stands and trying to address the physical comfort size. I still couldn’t get it quite right. I was complaining to Ben, who suggested I need to buy a boom arm. This means I can bring the microphone to me, rather than adjusting myself to meet the microphone. Um, yes. That overwhelmingly makes me feel so much more comfortable physically. This isn’t a critical purchase, so I might not even buy it for a few months, but it has solved part of the comfort puzzle for me.
My podcasting issues “journey” are one small example of working with your comfort zone. Obviously, this could be applied to a gazillion (and one) things.
How do you feel about comfort zones? Do you think it’s “acceptable” to like them and work well within them?
I don’t think you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone all the time – not until you become comfortable again…if that makes sense. Do your podcast solo until you get comfortable and then maybe push your boundaries.
It probably is more helpful to think of it as a series of peaks and troughs.
There are times (and when you have been unwell, looking at YOU!) when staying in your comfort zone is enough to help in full recovery. Walking before running (metaphorically because, well,. you know ) is a good idea.
Denyse x
That’s a good point. I do seem skilled in getting “small” things often 🙂
I believe we need to step out of our comfort zone but there are times when we just need to stay put, listen to our minds or bodies and feel the comfort surrounding us. Sure it is great to challenge ourselves but we need to balance that with relaxing down time as well. #lovin’lifelinky
I guess the key is identifying which we need 🙂