My Journey Out of the Zone

How often do you leave your comfort zone?

Comfort is something that I value greatly, and because of this, I rarely leave my comfort zone. I usually don’t like facing awkward or possibly uncomfortable new situations, especially because I don’t have the most outgoing or active personality. I tend to keep to myself and stick with people or places that I know well. But out of the few times that I have left my comfort zone, there have definitely been times where I expanded greatly as a person. These positive experiences have caused me to change from someone who never left his comfort zone to someone who sometimes leaves his comfort zone. One example of a positive experience I had when I left my comfort zone was when I came to Uni and joined the subbie basketball team.

Before I came to Uni, I was always a shy and reserved kid who wanted to stay inside his comfort zone. So when my parents told me to join the subbie basketball team, I was immediately against it. I didn’t want to join the basketball team because I had never really enjoyed sports. But my parents insisted that I try basketball, so eventually I gave in to their wishes.

At first I felt awkward and uncomfortable playing a sport I had never played before with other subbies that I didn’t know. Because I had avoided leaving my comfort zone my entire life, it took a while for me to open up to this activity. But I kept an open mind anyway because of the agreement I had made with my parents. Through numerous practices, I started learning how to play and also grew closer to my teammates. As the season progressed and we started playing in games, our team became like a brotherhood and I also started to enjoy the game itself. Before I knew it, I was completely drawn into basketball. I looked forward to every practice and game, and I no longer felt awkward or uncomfortable with regards to the basketball team. I went through various experiences ranging from hilarious to disappointing and constantly talked about them with my teammates. By the end of the season, I had not only gained a lot of close friends from the basketball team, but I also loved the game of basketball. Today, basketball is by far my favorite sport, and it is one of the few activities that I do simply for the pleasure of it. I constantly watch basketball (the Chicago Bulls are and will always be my favorite NBA team, if you didn’t know), and even though I am no longer on the basketball team at Uni, I take every opportunity I can to play by myself or with my friends. I cannot imagine a life without basketball.

The only reason why I am the basketball fanatic that I am today is because I stepped outside of my comfort zone in 8^th grade and joined the subbie basketball team. I learned from this experience that although leaving your comfort zone can be awkward at times, the reward is much greater than the risk. A whole new world can expand before you when you take the chance and leave your comfort zone. Yet even while knowing this, I still struggle with leaving my comfort zone today. I’m not exactly sure why this is so. Maybe it’s because of my reserved personality. Maybe it’s because I only see the risk when I’m faced with these opportunities. Maybe it’s because of a variety of reasons. Or maybe I’m just lazy. Whatever the case, leaving my comfort zone is still something I am trying to become better at. But I believe that as I break out of my comfort zone once in a while and gain more positive experiences through these choices, I will open up as a person and be more willing to leave my comfort zone in the future. After all, I have already grown a lot in this area of my life since subbie year.