My Reality, My Journey, My Story!: Comfort Zone

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” is a quote that I very much try to live by. I also believe that the only way to grow and move forward is by pushing yourself out of the comfort zone as often as possible.

For years I went with the flow and moved through my day to day life doing what I knew, what was easy and what was comfortable. Life was going well and I couldn’t complain but I started to feel like I wanted more which is when I started to look at my life and decided to try and live with no fear. This was the start of me learning how to push myself outside of what is comfortable.

Fast forward a few more years and here I am still trying to live by pushing my boundaries. It is not an easy way to live. It actually is really hard to always look for boundaries to push through and past. What was once uncomfortable and hard becomes the new normal and if you aren’t careful you are back into a new comfort zone. I find this especially so when it comes to exercise. It is really easy to fall into a routine that will get the job done but might not be as challenging. I have come against this a lot in the last couple of years especially since I really do enjoy routine, repetitive workouts that I can predict and know how my body will react to. It helps get the weight off and helps build my muscles but it doesn’t really help me grow. So with wanting to push my boundaries at the gym I decided to join a registered fitness class.

When it comes to working out there are a few things that have always made me nervous. The first is working out around people. The second is not being able to do something. The third is the worry about being judged. These three things all played major factors in my nervousness to sign up for any classes. Add to that the fact that being social can be its own challenge for me; group fitness was definitely not something in my comfort zone. All of these things are why I decided to sign up and just do it. I knew it would push me out of my comfort zone in major ways.

I do have to admit that I did this whole thing in baby steps. Part of the reason I think I was able to push this boundary was because my trainer who I had already been working with for a year at the point I joined was the teacher of the class. She let me drop in and try a couple out and promised that she would help me modify as needed. She was also amazing enough to let me steal some of her time before the class to go over what was going on so that I could feel a little more prepared going in. It let me step out of my comfort zone with like my baby toe instead of just jumping out of it.

I have now down the winter and almost finished the spring session of the class and I have to say for the most part I love it. One of the main reasons that I love it is that even 6 months later I still find that it challenges me every week in different ways.

Physically it is something different each week. It is always a hard workout and I have learned that I push myself differently (harder I guess) when there are people around. I want to prove to myself and to those around me that I’m just as capable as any of them to be able to do whatever exercise that gets thrown our way. I have done things in that class that had I been given them by my trainer in our one on one sessions I’m pretty sure I would have talked myself and her out of doing. (Sometimes you just have to shut up and try something before you fight against.) I have seen a lot of physical growth in the class. I’m doing things that when I came to the first few I couldn’t. I am stronger and more able to keep up. It is true I still need to modify a lot of things but I’m there every week doing my best to keep up.

Socially this class has helped me become more comfortable at the gym working out with people. The group that does this class are all fantastic wonderful people. They have been amazing to me since day one. They have shown me nothing but support. I still struggle a little sometimes chatting as we wait for class but that is easier as well as I get to know them all better and better. It has been a great reminder that sometimes the biggest social barrier I have is myself. If I remember to just be me I get along with most everyone.

What has been most surprising to me though is how mentally challenging doing this class has been. This is the one area that I feel like I struggle the most with. It has actually become the reason I really go to class each week. I have a very strong perfectionist streak in me. I get very frustrated with myself when I’m not perfect. Nothing sets the negative voice off in my brain faster than when I have to do something different than everyone else in class. It drives me nuts when I can’t do something or can’t find a modification that is close enough that I’m still doing something similar to everyone else. This has had a couple surprising effects on me. First it keeps me pushing so that I can get better. I want to be able to be like everyone else in that class. I want to be able to do all the exercises and not have to worry about how to tweak it for me. Second it keeps me recognizing and working on that negative voice. It is always like a little battle but I always come out feeling stronger for having fought against it and being forced to remind myself that in spite of the challenges the class throws at me I’m still there and doing it. I’m still getting a great workout in before a lot of people are even awake. As frustrating as it is, it is also quite affirming.

All in all I’m extremely happy with what has come out of doing my Saturday morning class. I feel stronger in so many ways. I have gained a better level of confidence in not only my physical abilities but also in my ability to be able to push myself. I feel like I can walk into that room each week and hold my own with some pretty talented and fit people. Pushing myself out of what I know has kept me more open to change. I think I’m becoming more adaptive and less rigid…although I still have a lot of work to go on that too. hehehe

I am going to continue to try group fitness. Of course in the desire to push myself a little more the next goal is to try and do some of the drop in classes at my gym. They are much bigger and with instructors I don’t always know but I think that I am at the point at least for some of the classes that I know I could do it. I’m looking forward to a summer of trying to keep pushing myself and my boundaries. I have big plans for the next 6 months and going forward. I’m just going to keep on seeing where this journey will take me.