I was recently asked by an online publication “how far should women push themselves?” when speaking of their comfort zone. My answer was “as far as they can go”. Let me share two thoughts with you.
My first thought is when women and men alike, push beyond where they think they can go both physically and mentally, they take themselves to a new level of personal growth and when looking back at an incredible achievement realizing what they have accomplished, it does help put things into perspective.
Think about this, if you know you can hike 2 hours with a paddle board on your back only to inflate it and then get on it to paddle another hour to a place where you’ll finally stop and have lunch, you will probably think at your next gym session, you have the opportunity to push a little bit harder. Or, you may think to yourself, "if I put that much physical exertion in that type of activity to push through, presenting in front of a room of 100 people is totally doable!”
My second thought is if you surround yourself with people who also push their limits, who have a high sense of self-efficacy, who believe in themselves and are willing to try it, you will be more likely to do the same. On the contrary, if you find yourself surrounded by those who are complacent in life, who just “ride the wave”, always want to sit in the backseat rather than taking the wheel, and are more risk averse, you may find yourself with a similar mentality. It is the positive, healthy competition or motivation by someone or something that will help you along the way and help encourage you or push you to get out of that comfort zone, even if just for that experience.
It’s ok to go back to your comfort zone and throughout your life depending on your situation, the desire and ability to get out of your comfort zone will look different, but it important you recognize that, define your comfort zone and what getting out if it looks like, and do it.
