{"id":22508,"date":"2018-04-28T00:52:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T00:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=22508"},"modified":"2018-04-28T00:52:32","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T00:52:32","slug":"life-begins-at-the-end-of-your-comfort-zone-no-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/life-begins-at-the-end-of-your-comfort-zone-no-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"~Life Begins at the End of your Comfort Zone~ No, Seriously."},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sure everyone has heard the clich\u00e9 concept of getting out your comfort zone. It\u2019s one of those things you learn in third grade and is on those ~inspirational~ tacky signs your mom has. See below for reference.\"\"<\/p>\n

It becomes such an obvious concept that you don\u2019t consciously practice it. At least, I don\u2019t anyway. Being a creature of habit it\u2019s easy for me to get up, eat food, go to work, go eat more food, sleep, and repeat. Don\u2019t get me wrong, establishing routines are physically and mentally healthy. But if there\u2019s anything Challenge Detroit has shown me, it\u2019s the benefits that come with getting out of your comfort zone.<\/p>\n

– You\u2019ll meet new people, who can teach you something. \u00a0<\/strong>As humans we tend to seek out those who look like us, act like us, dress like us, and think like us. It\u2019s just easier. But this comfort \u201cbubble\u201d isn\u2019t conducive to growth or change. When you do things that aren\u2019t the norm for you, you often encounter those who are different from you. If you are open-minded, they can teach you a lot. People who don\u2019t fit in your comfort \u201cbubble\u201d live different lives, so they can show you new viewpoints, and maybe change your mind on things. If you never jump outside of your comfort zone, you don\u2019t really gain anything.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For example, I have a tendency to view Detroit with rose colored glasses. A city that\u2019s empowering it\u2019s citizens to rebuild itself! Simply amazing! It wasn\u2019t until I expanded my network within Challenge Detroit and others who reside here that I understood that\u2019s not the whole story. There\u2019s a long history of racial and socio-economic issues that still need to be overcome, which is no easy feat. It\u2019s still great that there are so many people working towards positive change in the city, but it certainly is not going to happen overnight, and with just a few people on board. Getting out of my bubble grounded me about my expectations for the city, and for myself. I need to learn a lot from others before making positive change- I can\u2019t just press the pedal and go.<\/p>\n

– You\u2019ll become a lot more empathetic<\/strong>. Being in new environments, surrounded by those who are different from you, experiencing new things all makes you more empathetic.\u00a0 Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another\u2019s position. (Since we\u2019ve got a clich\u00e9 cheesy theme goin on here with the ~inspirational sign~ I\u2019d thought I\u2019d pull a definition from the world wide web. It\u2019s from Wikipedia. Sorry, sue me I guess.)<\/p>\n

But the definition is important because empathy is not feeling sorry for someone, rather it\u2019s being able to understand what they are going through. And the ability to be empathetic is particularly important for those in Detroit. Those who want to participate in Detroit spaces, make things happen in Detroit, or change past negative narratives all need to be empathetic. We don\u2019t want to build a Detroit that suits only millennials or the suburbs. We don\u2019t want to build a Detroit that suits just one neighborhood, or ignores families that have lived here for years. If we\u2019re going to build a Detroit for everyone, we need to be able to put ourselves in everyone\u2019s shoes, and understand where they came from.<\/p>\n

– \u00a0You\u2019ll learn about yourself.<\/strong> When you\u2019re out of your comfort zone, you\u2019re trying new things. Things you might not have thought you had the capability to do. For example, Challenge Detroit is basically two jobs at once- I certainly didn\u2019t think I would be capable of that, nor would I try to work two jobs at once. But I basically do, and I love it.\u00a0 Without pushing myself, I wouldn\u2019t have gained the things that Challenge Detroit has brought me. When you try new things, everything seems less scary. Even if you tried something new and it was absolutely terrible, any new thing you try will likely be easier than that. Getting out of your own norms is how you grow, and when everyone grows, the city grows.<\/p>\n

The moral of the story is not to drop everything you\u2019re doing now just because you have to try something new. There\u2019s a level of intention that should come with getting out of your comfort zone. \u00a0So if you\u2019re interested in something, but a part of you is holding back, just do it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll leave you with a small, not super impactful example, but it\u2019s an easy way to start. I have a habit of just going home after work. But last Friday I decided to be spontaneous and go with some friends to Beacon Park. They had a free arcade that was probably intended for kids haha but we ended up spending like 4 hours there playing arcade games, foosball, air hockey, mini golf, and it was honestly the most fun I’ve had in a while. If I had just gone home like usual, I would\u2019ve missed out on this honestly hilarious and fun experience with friends I don\u2019t get to hang out with often. So, you know what? Treat yoself already and get out of your comfort zone!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sure everyone has heard the clich\u00e9 concept of getting out your comfort zone. It\u2019s one of those things you learn in third grade and is on those ~inspirational~ tacky signs your mom has. See below for reference. It becomes such an obvious concept that you don\u2019t consciously practice it. At least, I don\u2019t anyway. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}