The Editor's Corner: Step Out of the Comfort Zone

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Jane Chesnutt reflects on the benefits of taking chances

By Jane Chesnutt Posted August 21, 2009 from womantalks.com

The Editor's Corner: Step Out of the Comfort Zone

One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is to get out of our comfort zones every once in a while. Try something you don’t think you’ll like, do something you think you can’t do. You never know when a new you is going to come out of the process.

A couple of years ago a friend invited me to go on safari in Tanzania. I blithely said, no thanks. The flight was too long, Africa wasn’t on my radar screen, I had zero interest. If I were to do a big trip, I’d rather go to Paris.

Flash forward: I reconsidered and pretty much fell in love on day one. Now, if you offered me a free trip to either Africa or Paris (with free shopping thrown in there), I’d pick Africa in a heartbeat (and I adore Paris).

We don’t always know ourselves, do we? And these discoveries don’t even have to be major ones. To give an example, which just happened to have occurred during that first safari:

One night before dinner, the cocktail hour snack was roasted peanuts. Understand that I practically came out of the womb saying, “I don’t like peanuts.” The list of foods I absolutely won’t eat barely makes it to 10, and “peanuts” has always been on it. But I was starving, and dinner was at least half an hour away. Who knows, perhaps I was just more open-minded because I was in an environment that was so different from anything I knew. In any event, I ate the peanuts. They were absolutely, utterly delicious.

As the old saying goes, never say never. When I now say that I still don’t think I’ll ever be a PB&J girl, I stop myself and think, “Hmmm…”

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