Beyond the Comfort
Zone
“The
comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it
necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and
conquers fears.”
Dan
Stevens
I
don't know about you, but I love my comfort zone. I love to be in my
house, sewing, writing, cooking; doing all the things I feel
competent at and nothing that I don't. I like schedule and routine,
and function better when I know what's coming. Meeting new people,
having new experiences, going new places, entertaining new
ideas—these are outside the comfort zone for me, and for many
people. The only problem is that the comfort zone is deadly when it
comes to creativity.
We
all need a comfort zone that functions like “home base.” We
return there to decompress and surround ourselves with the familiar.
We feel grounded in the places where we know and understand the rules
and dynamics; where there are few surprises. But we also need to move
outside our comfort zone to be refreshed with new ideas, to challenge
our imaginations to new creativity. When we go places we haven't been
before, when we are exposed to people whose lives are different from
ours, right away we think about what we could do with those images,
with those ideas. Our minds begin rolling with inventive notions. When
we never move off home base, we become like two week old bread—a
bit stale.
It
is a good idea for us “homing pigeons” to choose a few new things
to try in the new year. We don't have to go wild and crazy, and throw
caution out the window, but putting a toe in the water won't kill us.
If there's something you've wanted to try for a while, now's a good
time. Conquering the fear of being outside your comfort zone will
feel awkward at first, but in the long run will give you courage and
confidence. It will get your juices flowing. Then you can come back
to home base fortified, and get on with the business of creating
something fabulous.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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