This weekend I went way out of my comfort zone when I was invited to take part in "wild swimming". This saw me at 9am on Saturday morning (temp 6c) standing by a river in Norfolk in nothing more than a swimming costume, rash vest, woolly hat & waterproof gloves contemplating immersing myself in water measuring a balmy 3.6c🥶

I have to admit that when I mentioned in passing to my friend (and yes she still is), I imagined a warm summers day and really just a gentle swim in the river not what could only be described as a primitive form or torture, or so I thought.

Giving It A Go

None the less having read all about Wim Hof and his method for withstanding freezing temperatures and the benefits of such, I decided to give it a go👍

Standing, at the age of the river with all the "pros" I did momentarily wonder whether I could just change my mind, but something inside of me said this would be a good thing ( the other part of me was asking if I was completely mad).

As I entered the water I practised the breathing technique and whilst in the first 20 seconds you feel your heart might stop once you have committed and your shoulder are under it is really quite incredible.The ice cold water felt like little needles stinging every each of my exposed skin, but not in a bad way.

The only way to describe it was I felt "ALIVE". After about 5 mins I exited the water elated, the adrenalin rush was unbelievable and I felt "bloody fantastic" all day. I was walking around on a massive high and positively evangelical about the experience.

So why am, I sharing this?

A couple of weeks ago I was working with a client wearing my "mentoring" hat and I asked her to consider doing a couple of things outside of her comfort zone but that I knew would ultimately benefit her. Like me she admitted to experiencing the whole range or emotions - fear, anxiety, failure but none the less decided to do it anyway. I met her today, she had done it, challenged herself, went way way out of her comfort zone but as a result had two new clients in the bag.

We all have our own Personal and Professional Comfort Zones and it can makes us small, weak, and dull. Unless you venture outside of it, from time to time, it will get harder to escape.

Pushing Yourself

Entrepreneur Steve Harvey described the comfort zone as a bubble that contains all the places you like to go and all the things you like to do. He said that if you stay in this bubble, you will never be successful.“You’ve got to put more air in your bubble. You’ve got to blow your bubble up. Expand yourself. Take yourself out of your comfort zone. Do not live in your bubble. Success is not a comfortable procedure.

”So, we need to learn to be comfortable doing the uncomfortable. The comfort zone is not wrong place to be, if we all tried living outside our comfort zone for too long we would end up stressed and ultimately crash and burn. We need to make the comfort zone work for us, remember, if you’re about to do something, and you come up with all sorts of ideas for why you should not do this, this activity will most likely take you one step closer to the person you want to become.

Can I Help You?

I am Mentor not a Coach, I work with you on your business and at times will gently encourage you out of your Comfort Zone, if this appeals to you get it touch. It is really not that scary..... honestly.

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Photocredit: : Nikki Stock