This summer when I worked at a summer camp we talked a lot about getting out of our comfort zone and into our "growth zone." The growth zone is the area right outside of your comfort zone, where you can do things that stretch yourself, and consequently allow your comfort zone to enlarge.
Outside of your growth zone is your danger zone. If you stretch so far out of your comfort zone that you're in your danger zone, your comfort zone is likely to do the opposite: become smaller. The experience of being in your danger zone is so harmful that it causes your comfort zone to shrink. At camp, we related this to kids going through the ropes challenge course. For some kids, being in their growth zone meant going all the way through the course, for others it meant getting to the top of the ladder and then coming back down. Forcing a kid, who was reaching his or her limit by simply climbing to the top of the ladder, to go through the whole course would be much more harmful than letting them give their 100% and then come back down. Forcing them through the course would be traumatizing and they'd be unlikely to want to give it another try.
In the same way, we need to learn the limits of our own comfort, growth, and danger zones. In life, unlike the Ropes Challenge Course, there aren't facilitators helping you and asking you if you're in your danger zone. It's our responsibility to know our own selves and what we can handle. Don't be afraid to remove yourself from a situation that is physically or emotionally in your danger zone. However, it's also important to know the difference between your growth zone and danger zone. A lot of people live like their danger zone is immediately outside of their growth zone, never stretching themselves to try new and possibly uncomfortable things. New things will almost always be uncomfortable. Remember learning how to ride a bike? You probably fell at least a few times and were embarrassed. At one point you probably didn't want to get back on and try again. But once you learn how to ride a bike, it's easy peasy! The uncomfortableness faded away as it became part of your comfort zone. But it's important to remember that growth is almost always uncomfortable in one way or another, but that's not a good reason to shy away from it!
Try new things, do something that you've always wanted to do but were too shy or afraid to do it, take a class on cake decorating, or learn how to shoot a gun. Learn how to manage your own finances or ride a horse. Have that uncomfortable conversation that you know you need to have. I promise it won't be the most fun at the time, but the growth you'll experience is so worth it! What's cool about comfort/growth/danger zones is that they aren't set in stone. After a while of stretching yourself into your growth zone, things that were originally in your danger zone suddenly become things that you could actually do and have it be a growing experience!
