Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 8

I am a farmer's market frequenting, veggie loving, health nut.  Fresh vegetables give me the same kind of thrill now, that hearing Tiffany on the radio gave me as a 5th grader.  I can't get enough of Artichokes and Asparagus, Swiss Chard and Kale.  I will happily eat any vegetable put on my plate, unless it's Eggplant, Okra or Brussell Sprouts, in which case I will hide them in my napkin when nobody's looking.

I am definitely uncomfortable with Eggplant, Okra and Brussell Sprouts, which in this challenge means...I have to eat them.

This was no easy challenge for me.  Even putting said vegetables into my cart at the grocery store was a challenge.  I decided to keep the preparation and cooking of the veggies pretty simple, so I could get the full effect of their natural flavors.  No cheating by cooking them with garlic and bacon, or smothering them in lots of sauce or cheese to cover up the flavor.  I decided to roast them in the oven with only a little oil, and some salt and pepper.

                                               

There I sat, face to face with a plate full of my veggie enemies.  This was do or die.  I put the first forkful in my mouth and...they still tasted like Eggplant, Okra, and Brussell Sprouts, but they weren't too bad!  Ok, Okra was still pretty bad, but I actually kind of don't hate Brussell Sprouts and Eggplant very much.  They won't probably make it to the top of my favorite veggies list, but I won't turn up my nose to Eggplant and Brussel Sprouts in moderation  I might even throw them on the menu now and then.  If you've got a recipe for Eggplant or Brussell Sprouts, (and maybe even Okra), that you really love, please share!  I'm determined to pull my family onto the misunderstood vegetables band wagon with me.

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!

Kara

Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 7

It is a well-established truth, that I have little to no natural talent when it comes to running.  (See "30 Day Comfort Zone Challenge")   To be completely honest, I did win every field day race but one, in second grade, but those glory days faded fast after elementary school.

I have been trying to be a runner for most of my life, and sadly, I've always been a lot better at reading articles on running, than running.  My lack of talent, though frustrating, hasn't weighed too heavily on me however, because I knew I was trying my best, and I was proud of that.  I've even managed to run in a couple of 5k races, over the years.  (Very, very, slowly.)  Those long, arduous, 3 miles however, are the very extent of my ability.  In all my years of running I haven't been able to move past the giant, impenetrable, wall that is 3 miles.  I have honestly always thought that this might really be the extent of what my legs are capable and handling.

Questioning my limits has become my new favorite hobby, so yesterday, I dared to go where I have never gone before...I was going to run 4 miles, even if it killed me!

Not willing to face running outside in the South, in July, (a comfort zone challenge for another day, perhaps), I stepped onto the treadmill, with a healthy mix of determination and fear.

It took forever, and it wasn't pretty, but I ran FOUR miles!

I'm beginning to feel invincable!

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!
Kara

Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 6

I like to think that I can do a lot of things pretty well.  I can jump rope, I can shuffle a deck of cards, and even do that cool bridge trick, I can hold my own at a knee war on the trampoline, I can walk the dog with a yo yo, blow a giant bubble with bubble gum, and I can even do that timeless break dancing move, "The Worm".  (A skill I've possessed since the third grade.)   I can do a lot of things, but I can not play the piano.

I used to have high hopes of playing the piano beautifully.  I told my parents of this desire when I was ten years old.  With faith in my ardent promise to practice, my parents bought a piano, and signed me up for lessons.  I had a always loved music, and I was sure that playing the piano would come easily to me.  It didn't.  All those little black notes..."Every good bird does fly", "FACE".  So many fingers, so many keys. treble clef, bass clef, sharps and flats, it made my head hurt!  I just wanted to play music; this felt more like math!  I struggled to read notes and to play well for two years, and didn't progress like I wanted.  Finally, feeling defeated, I quit.

My love of music never left me, and eventually I found my way to instruments that came more easily to me, like the guitar and the violin.  I found some measure of success playing those instruments but still never progressed much past "Chopsticks", on the piano.

Playing the piano is way outside of my comfort zone.  Way outside as in,  giant leaps outside my comfort zone.  I love to listen to others play, but I've accepted the truth that I will never be good at playing the piano.

Over the last several days, all this comfort zone redefining, has reminded me that we have to challenge our perceived limits if we want to grow.  Fine.  I'll give it another go.

I sat at the piano, determined, but painfully aware of my lack of skills.  I picked a song to attempt, that I have loved for years, "Sheep May Safely Graze", by Bach.  My husband, who plays the piano beautifully, often plays this song, and each time, I find myself drawn into the room to get a better listen.  Surely the hopes of mastering such a beautiful song will keep me motivated to keep on trying, even when it's difficult.

Still finding it necessary to repeat "Every good bird does fly", embarrassingly frequently, I slowly but surely began to play the song.  After 45 minutes of struggling, I can now officially play the first eight measures...of the right hand.  This is wimpy progress, I know, but it's progress.

I'm determined to keep trying.  Maybe one day I will be able to draw someone into the room, just to get a better listen, instead of covering their ears and running for the door.

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!
Kara

Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 5

Vivid in my mind is the memory of my bridal shower.  I remember feeling loved, and slightly overwhelmed,  surrounded by family and friends, and piles and piles of toasters, crockpots,  picture frames, and books with advice on marriage.  I remember my mom sitting next to me while I opened gifts, faithfully writing down, in meticulous detail, everything about each gift:  "Floral print bath towels, Aunt Hortencia,  left-handed, olive green, oven mitt, Cousin Mildred."  (I'm taking some artistic liberties with names and gifts to make things more interesting).

I remember thinking that my mom's faithful record of the gifts, so that I could send out dozens of "Thank You" cards, was a bit excessive and unnecessary.  I was, after all, offering a heartfelt thank you, in person, after each gift I opened.

I remember the list of names.  I remember my mom's gentle yet persistent reminders to send out the "Thank You" cards.  I remember putting off this task.  And, I'm ashamed to say, I remember my mom finally taking over, and sending out the cards herself.

Nineteen years later, I am ready to mend my ways, make my mom proud, and show my gratitude for people I love, by writing a few well-deserved, and long overdue "Thank You", cards.

I sat down this morning, with my pen in hand, and wrote a sincere note of thanks to the first five people that came to mind.  It was easier than I thought it would be!  As soon as I thought of a specific person, it wasn't hard to recall many reasons to be thankful for them in my life.  I'm pretty sure that I could repeat this exercise every day for the rest of my life, and never struggle to think of five more people who deserve my thanks.

Sharing my gratitude felt great!  I might even start making detailed lists!  I will, absolutely, do my best to remember that five minutes and a stamp is a pretty easy and effective way to show thanks.

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!
Kara

Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 4

I've never been very comfortable with Shakespeare.  I feel uncultured for even thinking such a thought, but it's true!  I know that he is a genius, and that his writing has been valued and loved for centuries for a reason.  I want to like it, but reading Shakespeare has always been for me a little like eating Brussel Sprouts...I know they're good for me, I know I should like them, but I just don't.

Feeling pretty certain that my disinterest in Shakespeare exists mostly because I haven't given him enough of a chance, I decided to give my literary comfort zone a stretch, and try again to enjoy reading Shakespeare.

I woke up excessively early, (also outside of my comfort zone), and found the old, faded blue, copy of  Macbeth, that has been sitting on my book shelf looking dignified for 15 or so years, but almost never read, and a small book of poetry.   I started by reading a few of the more famous of Shakespeare's sonnets that I remembered reading  and enjoying when I first bought the book of poetry.

 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

"Like to the lark at break of day arising..."

 "Love is not love which alters when alteration finds..."

I guess I did already have some appreciation for Shakespeare!  Shakespeare undeniably had a gift for words that is unequaled.

Sonnets are surely however, the milk of Shakespeare works.  I needed to brave the meat of his works, and attempt to read a play!  For the next hour I studied Macbeth.  I use the word "study", because there is no such thing as light reading, when it comes to Shakespeare.  I found myself flipping back to the list of characters more than once, to identify the speaker, reading and rereading passages to figure out the meaning, and often referring to the word definitions at the bottom of the page.  After an hour, I was exhausted...exhausted in a happy, cultured, kind of way.

I will probably not keep my copy of Macbeth on my nightstand, but I did take it off the shelf.  I am slowly sloughing off my Shakesperian ignorance, and one beautifully written line at a time, learning to truly appreciate the skill of this great writer.

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!
Kara

Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 3

I'm a stay at home mom, with six kids.  It takes a certain measure of organization and routine to make my days productive, my home run smoothly, and my sanity stay intact.  Routine is a good thing, most of the time.  The problem is, I've become so comfortable in my routine, that I rarely stop to question if it's best.  

Yesterday, amidst the whirlwind that is my morning routine:  make breakfast, find matching socks, pack up lunches and homework, to school on time, and then, just enough time to clean the kitchen and do the dishes before I laid the baby down for a nap.  Instead of mindlessly diving in to my morning chores, I stopped, and dared to question my routine, to question my comfort zone.  Sometimes all it takes to stretch our comfort zones is just to do things a little differently than we are used to.  To make a conscious decision to do things a little better.

So, I pulled my attention away from the sink full of dishes, and gave my full attention instead to my sweet little two year old.  The next hour was filled with play dough, blanket forts, and reading books. Lottie was in heaven, eating up every minute of one on one time. I was reminded again, it's the little things that count.  Who knew the sheer joy that a spontaneous game of "Ring Around The Rosies", in the kitchen, could bring to a two year old!

It doesn't take much.  A little bit of effort, a little bit of change, and the rigid boundaries of our comfort zones quickly become much more pliable.

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!
Kara

Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 2

Image courtesy of khunaspix at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's only day two of this Comfort Zone Challenge, and already I find myself waxing philosophical on the reasons why we create for ourselves this limiting zone in the first place.  I'm beginning to think that maybe we have comfort zones, merely because we set hard and fast rules for ourselves of what we can and can't accomplish, and accept those limitations as fact.  Everything changes when we allow ourselves to challenge those limitations.  The more I think about this principle, the more apparent it becomes that I have set these limits for myself in so many areas of my life.

For example, I love yoga.  I love how I can practically feel myself growing taller and stronger with each practice.  I love the inward focus, and the union of body and mind and spirit.  I've practiced yoga for years now, and have loved every moment of reflection on the mat, and have no doubt benefitted from countless sun salutations.  I have however, found a level of yoga that I'm pretty comfortable with, and almost subconsciously convinced myself that I had reached my limit.  I love to watch experienced yogis defy gravity in advanced yoga poses, but I have stayed comfortable in my limited yoga, because I rarely dare to consider that maybe I can do it too!  Comfortable is the enemy of growth!

So, I challenged my perceived limitations, and I pushed myself hard.  I'm pretty sure I narrowly avoided serious injury, and yet, it felt awesome!

I tried yoga poses that I've never even heard of.  I was definitely awkward and ungraceful, but I tried something that stretched my comfort zone, (literally).  Some of the poses, admittedly, are still out of my reach, but I am reaching, and trying, and that is progress.  There was a surreal moment in my practice where I tried and succeeded at a pose way outside of my yoga level of comfort, called, "Bird of Paradise".  At that moment, with arms wrapped around and stretching further than I thought possible, balancing precariously and proud, I felt amazing!  I felt unstoppablable!

It didn't take much to convince myself that it wasn't too hard to push the limits of my cofort zone a little wider.  When we question our limitations, and really try, we might surprise ourselves with what we can do.

Namaste'

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!
Kara

Comfort Zone Challenge - Day 1

For my first day of the comfort zone challenge, I decided to face my culinary nemesis.

I am a cooking show junkie.  I've been watching Martha Stewart, Ree Drummind, and Paula Dean make cooking look easy, for years.  Inspired and motivated by my favorite cooking mentors, I've ventured deep into the culinary world, attempting breads and pastries, currys and stews, meatballs and marinara, and a myriad of other complicated and intricate recipes, with excitement and confidence.  In all these years of cooking however, I've never dared to undertake the mother of all intimidating recipes...

The Formidable Soufflé!

I've longed for years to be part of the culinary elite who could pull of such a feat, but fear of failure has kept me from trying.  Yesterday, in the name of comfort zone redefinition, I faced my fear of separating eggs, and whisking stiff peaks, and attempted to make a soufflé for the first time.  It felt amazing, just to give it a shot!  I have to say, it wasn't easy.  I was an anxious mess, worrying about getting the details right, and achieving that puffed perfection that makes a soufflé.  When the moment of reckoning came, and I carefully opened the oven to remove my hopefully perfect soufflé, it was...ah, not so perfect.  The signiture soufflé puff that I was hoping for was wimpy, at best.  I felt as deflated as my soufflé looked.  I so wanted to nail this recipe!  I was pretty disappointed at first, until I remembered that perfection is not the object of stretching our comfort zones.  It is in the trying that we truly find success.  Plus, it tasted amazing, and most importantly, I made it!  I made a soufflé!

What will you do to grow your comfort zone today?  Share in the comments!  I'd love to hear about it!

Today's a new day, let's make it purposeful!
Kara

30 Day Comfort Zone Challenge

   

      I am not a runner.  There.  I said it.  I've been living in denial for over twenty years now, maybe longer.  There is something about running that I've always been drawn to.  There's something so romantic about waking at the crack of dawn, lacing up my very cool Adidas, and running for miles, confident, fast, and strong.  My experience with running however, has been nowhere near this romantic ideal in my head.  The reality of me as a runner goes a little more like this...Stumble out of bed, well after the crack of dawn, lace up my not so stylish, pink running shoes that my well intentioned husband bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago, and hit the trail with initial motivation and confidence, only to be quickly overrun, by the end of mile one, with an overwhelming desire to be at home reading a book, and never, ever, run again.  And yet, a couple of days later, I willingly, and excitedly, lace up my unattractive running shoes, and do it all over again.  Why do I torture myself?  I am not a born runner.  Why do I persist in trying?  I like the challenge.  I like the growth.  I like the dream of being a runner, and that is enough motivation to keep on trucking.


     Whether it's running, or baking, or Shakespeare, or speaking in public, we all have areas in our life that are entirely outside of our comfort zone.  It's certainly easier to cruise along, well within the boundaries of what is familiar, and easy, and comfortable.  Living life on this cruise control setting however, leaves little opportunity for growth and adventure.  What could we gain by expanding our comfort zones, by taking a risk, trying something knew, or enduring a little awkward, for a big life experience. 

     I don't think that it's necessary to take giant leaps out of our comfort zones to be successful.  Little
steps are none the less, steps in the right direction.  It is in the daily, purposeful, choices we make, that we expand our comfort zones, a little at a time.

     I'm a sucker for a challenge, so here goes.

     I'm going to challenge myself, (and you), to a:

   30 Day Comfort Zone Challenge!

    
      Each day for the next month, I am going to push the limits of my comfort zone.  I am a fan of slow and steady, so I may not jump out of a plane, or wrestle an alligator, (you never know), but I will stretch myself in the direction of my dreams, and steadily and perhaps even awkwardly step foot outside of my circle of comfort. 

     Will you join me?  What have you always wanted to try?  Will you finally attempt to make Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner, or convince your spouse to take a Ballroom dancing class with you?

     Let me know what you try, and I'll keep you posted on my small, daily, steps toward the purposeful.

Today's a new day!  Let's make it purposeful! 
Kara