Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone

As you may know, I am in the process of transitioning from a traditional job in Corporate America into some personal businesses. The transition has been occurring for quite some time (which is something else I’ve manifested). Just days before my last day in the corporate role, I found myself going through many emotions. I would even say that I felt a bit paralyzed. Stuck may be a better word.

One day, as I sat in a workshop related to one of my new ventures, I felt myself slip into Observer mode, where I was observing me and my life as if I was some unbiased “Other.” I saw my life from “above” as if I could see time as a story. I saw all the events that had led to the moment of sitting as a participant in the workshop, and all the potential moments that were yet to come, depending on what that Me sitting there chose to do.

The most obvious thing was that everything was perfect. Given everything that had led up to that moment, even things I’d perceived as “mistakes” or “delays,” everything I wanted was completely possible and vibrantly there for me! I was right on track!

I decided to have a little “chat” with The Observer. As I pondered what I was seeing, I wondered why I had felt “nervous” at times recently. From the broader perspective of The Observer I realized that I didn’t fear what I wanted, nor my ability to make the transition to this new life; rather, what I was feeling was the dis-comfort as I took the steps out of my comfort zone into things as of yet unfamiliar to me.

This was a wonderful ah-ha moment! I also realized it actually wasn’t the first time I’d had this thought and it made the ah-ha kind of comical. A verse I’d written years ago came to mind and I went back to my notes to find it. Here it is:

Let’s Talk About Comfort

We dream of things in our lives
And in our experiences
That we have not yet known…

So how can we expect
To always feel comfortable
As we move into the unknown
To be with them?

CJ (26-Jul-2003)

After realizing this aspect of what The Observer was seeing, I noticed something else. The Me sitting there in the workshop didn’t seem all that excited about the new things appearing in her life. How could that be? All her dreams were just footsteps away! She knew what she needed to do and what she wanted to do and it was all good stuff, but it seemed she just couldn’t get excited about it even though it was what she’d dreamed about for so much of her life. What was going on?

And from The Observer’s perspective I saw that it was all part of a reprogramming of neuropathways. Every day had held certain activities, certain stressors, certain events happening at certain times (leave home at 7:30 to drive to work, work 8:00 – 5:00, drive home, cook dinner, blah, blah, blah). The tasks associated with the job were not what the new “work” would be. Everything was being reshuffled, resorted and realigned.

The joy was still there. The dream was still intact. There was no problem, just a process that was efficiently taking place.

The seeming “stuckness” was not “stuckness” at all! She … I … was … am … filling myself with all the new tools I need and re-routing all the little electrons traveling my neuropathways so that I can welcome all the dreams that lie before me. I’m not falling out of alignment … I’m getting INTO alignment!

Well, that put a whole new spin on things. Guess who’s happy now?!