February of 2018 marks one of the most eye-opening months I’ve ever had. Each day, for 28 days, I did just one thing to put myself out of my comfort zone. Why was this so life changing? Because I realized that I was wrong.

Let’s back up: Where did this idea come from?

In January, I decided to do a sober month and focus on my health. As a result, I had so much energy and momentum on February 1st that I decided I wanted to do something else to help myself grow in a positive way during the new month.

I started by looking back at the past year and trying to figure out where I could focus on improving. On March 24th, 2017, I took one of the biggest risks of my life. I left my well-paying, completely stable job to pursue other passions. I traveled more than I had ever traveled in my life, I saw the Eiffel Tower, hiked around the country, reconnected with old friends, and even started my own business. I lived more freely, and was thriving.

However, on September 29th, 2017, life decided to throw me a curveball that hit square in my chest. That day, I had a spontaneous pneumothorax (doctor-speak for my lung collapsed without any warning, or trauma to cause it). Multiple chest tubes, a major surgery, and many medical bills later, I found myself resorting to playing it safe, avoiding getting out of my comfort zone and taking risks. To sum it up, I was living the same way I had before I left my job.

How many times do we get on the right path, truly connect with ourselves, then encounter an obstacle, and subsequently fall back into old patterns, losing all of the progress we’ve made?

That’s when it hit me: what if I fought the old patterns and made a conscious effort to get out of my comfort zone every day, for 28 days? What would happen?

If you want to change your life, start now. “Tomorrow” doesn’t count.

How did I execute this? By acting on the idea immediately. It’s all too easy to sit back and say you’ll do something later, only to find yourself tacking it on to that insanely long to-do list of less important tasks that you’ve been piling up for the past year.

So, I sat down and started planning what I would do each day to get out of my comfort zone and into my awesome-zone. The result was a table that said what I would do each day, what I expected would happen, and what actually happened.

Look at what you wrote. Use it to learn about yourself.

This whole idea was a type of experiment, whether or not I realized it at the time. But, what’s even crazier is that just by writing my expectations (aka hypotheses) down, I learned a TON about myself, such as:

1. I was afraid of doing things where I left myself open to judgement.
2. I was afraid of disappointing or being rejected by people.
3. I was afraid of doing things alone.
4. I was afraid of getting hurt.

…just to name a few.

To put it plainly, I wasn’t exactly the confident, risk-taker I thought I was before this exercise, nor was I as much of one as I knew I could be. If you want to talk about lighting the fire of motivation, that’s what this did for me. You wouldn’t stay a self-conscious fear-based thinker when you know you are capable of so much more– would you?

I knew I could do better, and came up with the following mottos (which were especially useful when I was being a wimp about doing something on my list):

• “I am confident enough to do this.”
• “What they think of me is none of my damn business.”
• “I’m doing this for me.”
   

What actually happened?

Right before bed each night, I would fill this section in. I would be honest and to the point about what happened. After the first week, I was beginning to get a picture of how this would unfold. But, I kept with it, and each week after that, I continued to be amazed at what was happening, and more importantly, at what I was capable of doing.

Day after day, I would prove myself wrong. Starting my blog was not a bad idea. Asking for what I wanted, having tough conversations, and eating alone at a restaurant didn’t alienate me from anyone. In fact, the more I did alone, I grew to be more and more comfortable with myself.

The unknown had become my new comfort zone. By the last week of this crazy experiment, the fears I had about the things I had left to do to get out of my comfort zone were gone. I was no longer afraid of doing things like reaching out to someone I haven’t talked to in years, or singing on stage, or asking a big company to give my small company a chance.

In short, I had changed.

If you’re still not convinced this is for you, here is a list of real things that happened to me as a result of trying to get out of my comfort zone every day:

• I reconnected with old friends, and even made new ones.
• My brand was featured in a national magazine’s online article.
• I applied for a part-time dream job, while owning my own business. Got it, realized that I did have a way to make time for it, and now get to hang out on the weekends with people I respect and enjoy being around, while still maintaining a flexible schedule.
• I booked a ticket to travel to Mexico with one of my best friends (which turned out to be one of my favorite trips of all time).
• Built a blog and subscriber list that was significantly larger than I expected. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO HAVE YOUR SUPPORT.
• Collaborated with companies that I respect.
• Got in the best shape of my life, despite having an ‘incurable’ injury.
• But most importantly, I learned to love myself all over again.
   

Conclusions and the Bigger Picture

To be completely honest, when I started this at the beginning of February, I thought I would be writing something more generic. In my mind, I’d be writing an okay article about how some things I was right about, and some things I wasn’t, and how I am still me but getting back to how I was before, and how some risks are worth taking …yada yada yada… yawn. Basically, I was ready to qualify the argument.

Flash forward to now: I’m practically standing on a soap box with a megaphone in hand, preaching and screaming “IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE, DO THIS!” to anyone who crosses my path.

What would you do if you woke up one day and realized that yourself and society had been filling you up with false truths? If you realized that most people are so caught up in their own insecurities that they don’t have time to put a magnifying glass up to yours? How would you live, and what would you do, if you no longer cared about what your co-workers, your relatives, and your friends would think of your every move?

That’s what I suggest you go and do. Life is too short and has too much to offer for us to stay in fear of living it.
 

Sincerely,
Taylor