I’d be lying to you if I said that our new sailing adventure didn’t scare me.
We are currently around three months into our new boat life. We are very happy with our purchase and the huge life change that we have made.
We are excited for our future, all of the amazing places we will visit, and all of the learning experiences that we will get to have.
However, making this huge lifestyle change has been a little scary for me.
The first month of boat ownership was an interesting one. Before we bought our boat, we were constantly told that there are two best days in a boat owner’s life:
- The day you buy you boat.
- The day you sell it.
And, for a moment there, I thought that was right, haha!
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See, we really loved full-time RVing, and it became so easy for us. We were definitely in our comfort zone while RVing, and that’s part of the reason for why we wanted to switch to sailing – we wanted to start a new adventure, have a new challenge, learn new things, and more.
We 100% knew that sailing would be more difficult for us as there is just so much to learn, but that first month of boat ownership definitely tested me.
There were times when I wondered if we had made a huge mistake and times when I wondered what the heck I had just gotten myself into. I just felt that there was so much to learn, and I started to scare myself – I started to think that there was no way I could possibly learn everything.
I became my own worst enemy.
Wes is a natural when it comes to sailing, and he does so well with it. But me? I was just so afraid that I would never get the hang of it all.
Scaring yourself is a good thing – it means that you’re pushing yourself to do something new and outside of your comfort zone. This can help you grow as a person and continue to improve.
However, I started to scare myself to the point that I began to doubt myself entirely.
And, that’s when I realized that I just needed to tell myself to shut up.
Doing new things is going to be scary, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
I can now say that I’m so glad I pushed myself because I already feel 1,000% happier about the transition, and I’ve learned so much, to the point that those fears have all gone away.
While I’m definitely no pro and know that I will be learning for years and decades more, I am so very happy with the progress I have made.
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And, that’s why I wanted to create today’s blog post.
Sometimes, actually most of the time, you are your own worst enemy.
If I would have quit, I would have regretted it and felt pretty dumb!
Reaching success isn’t easy. If it were, then it probably wouldn’t be called success. Success and reaching your dream life takes hard work, a can-do attitude, and more.
Some of the best things in life will be scary, and you shouldn’t stop once you get scared. That means that you’ve just begun!
Here are my tips to get out of your comfort zone and stop holding yourself back.
Realize that good things will be scary.
Everything in life won’t be easy.
There will be times when you may be scared and times when you may not believe in yourself.
But, you have to push through these negative moments and realize that you are holding yourself back if you don’t let yourself move forward and do something new.
Just get out and do it.
The main thing that worked for me was that I knew I just had to get out and sail without an instructor. So, we took a bunch of classes, got signed off by insurance, and the following day, we went out all by ourselves.
All of those fears that I had went away when we went out and then safely docked ourselves back in our slip.
I then had the confidence I needed because I saw that it could be done!
Sometimes, you just have to do whatever scares you and get that feeling out of the way by putting it out in the open and seeing that you can accomplish something that terrifies you. By doing it, you’ll see that you were holding yourself back and that you are stronger than your fear.
Stop making excuses.
Making excuses is a mindset that can hold you back and keep you in your comfort zone. When a person is scared of something new, it is very normal to make excuses that prevent you from going to the next step.
This bad habit can hold you back from your dreams, success, retirement, and more.
To put it simply, excuses prevent you from living the life you want.
You’re giving up before you’ve even started.
We make excuses for all sorts of things, like why you can’t get the job you want, why debt can’t be paid off, why you need a brand new car, and so on.
Now, I’m not saying that life isn’t difficult because everyone has experienced difficulties – no matter how perfect you may perceive a person’s life to be.
But, we are all guilty of making excuses, and I know that people will continue to make them until they realize that excuses are just that – excuses.
Just think about the last time you said, “That won’t work for me because (fill in the blank with your excuse here).”
As a personal finance expert, I hear a lot of excuses for why a person can’t save money, pay off debt, live the life they want, reach retirement, and so on.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons for why some people have financial setbacks, but there are still many people making excuses for why they can’t achieve their goals or why their life is bad.
You won’t fix your problems by making excuses. Instead, you are likely causing undue stress and anxiety that leads to even more problems.
Reaching your dream life will take time, and there might be setbacks, but your goal is only impossible if you quit before you get there.
Be confident.
Success isn’t easy. If it were easy, then everyone would be extremely successful.
To get outside of your comfort zone, you need to start believing in yourself and be more confident.
Think about what you are good at, think about successes you have had, and see those things as evidence for how you can succeed. Everyone has it in them, but sometimes we forget that we have already overcome things.
Learning how to be confident can lead to getting the job you want, making more money, reaching you dreams, public speaking, meeting new people, networking, managing a business or employees, traveling the world, and more. Gaining confidence can help you in many, many different ways.
However, a lack of confidence may:
- Prevent someone from believing in themselves.
- Lead to someone being too shy to do what they want or need.
- Force someone to do things they hate.
- Cause someone to ruin a meeting, job possibility, and so on.
- Lead to unhappiness.
Confidence is so very important, but perhaps that’s one fear you need to overcome!
It doesn’t have to be hard.
You don’t need to do something completely crazy in order to get out of your comfort zone. It could be something that just takes a minute or two or your time – it doesn’t have to be a life changing process that never ends.
I know a few people right now who are doing a personal 30 day challenge that asks them to do something uncomfortable and outside of their comfort zone, every single day for 30 days.
This could be a great way to get you moving and outside of your comfort zone!
Here’s a quick sample list of things that you can do to scare yourself and get out of your comfort zone (some are big, some are small, and some may be easy for you but hard for others):
- Public speaking
- Take the lead in your next work project
- Skydive
- Sing karaoke
- Stand up for yourself
- Quit your job and follow your passion
- Tell someone a secret of yours
- Admit when you’re wrong
- Workout
- Go for a long hike
- Dance when no one else is dancing
- Go phone-less for a day
- Ask for a raise
- Volunteer
- Take a class
- Smile at every stranger you see
- Take a video of yourself in public
- Do a Facebook Live
- Travel alone
- Eat alone at a restaurant
- Face your biggest fear in life
Do one thing every day that scares you.
When was the last time you scared yourself? Are you stuck in your comfort zone?
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