Venturing Out of Your Comfort Zone and Setting Goals

I am not an outdoors kind of girl. I love my regulated temperature settings, constant electricity, and comfy couches. Despite all of this, I somehow convinced myself that going on a camping and hiking trip with two of my friends from school would be an amazing pre-school weekend. Armed with an industrial can of bug spray, I not only survived the two and a half day trip, but I also hiked about 10 miles over the course of the weekend. It was an incredible trip and I am so much more capable because of it. Venturing outside of your comfort zone is never easy, but it can lead to some of the most rewarding experiences of your life.

I am a strong believer in goal setting and I think it is the best way to set yourself on a path to new experiences. No matter how big or small or how long or short term the goal is, it should be written down somewhere. This can be in your Notes app, or in a word doc, or (my personal favorite) in your planner, but it should be somewhere as a reference. Ventures like my trip are easy to formulate: a weekend camping trip, but I know not all out of your comfort zone experiences are as easy to write down or they may seem too big to handle. This comes to my second tip: write down all the smaller goals that will help you accomplish the big one and start to think of a timeline for it. In my case, the smaller goals were finds friends to go with, find a weekend, find a place, set a budget, etc. This can be a big list or a small list, but breaking down a big, scary thing into smaller parts will not only keep you on track, but it you will feel more accomplished and committed to finishing the task. It can also help during this planning process to find inspiration. If you want to lose weight, try following fitness Instagram accounts. If you want to start a blog, try finding some online you enjoy. If you want to redesign your house, try checking out ideas on Pinterest. When you have a visual to go along with what you’re imagining in your head, it can make everything seem more possible because you have proof that someone else has done this before you. Finally, find a friend to join you. Not only is it nice to have a buddy during a tough process to hold you accountable, but everything is more fun when you’re in it with someone else. This fall, I’m going to live with one of my friends from the trip, which if we can survive two nights in the woods we can definitely survive an apartment for a year.

Once you start accomplishing some of your smaller goals, keep a journal of how the process went. You can do this publicly on social media or keep it personal, but keeping track of the journey will help you get the most out of your experience. This also continues to keep you accountable for your timeline and for achieving your goal. Journaling is also a great way to remind yourself why you’re going beyond your boundaries. I wanted to go on my trip to not only prove to myself that I could, but because I’ve heard it’s an incredibly intimate experience to disconnect from everything and be in the woods. That’s some of what I got out of my weekend and by recording it through photos I took (oh hey, that’s me six miles later), I’m able to look back and relive all of those moments.

The final step to completing these goals is to reflect on your experience. I’ve found that this is a step everyone tends to skip, but I think it’s arguably the most important part. This is how you can set the groundwork for the next big step you take in your life. What worked? What didn’t work? What would you change for next time? How did you feel at the beginning of the experience? How do you feel now? How are you different? By taking a few minutes to reflect, you’re able to understand why the experience was important no matter what the results are and remember why you started out on the journey in the first place. This article is my reflection of my camping trip and the next time I go on a trip like it I’ll have a better idea of what to do when, for instance, we get lost on a trail and end up going in circles.

Routine is important. I am a typical Type A personality and love my routine. But I’ve also found that routine is the fastest way to burnout and frustration because all of a sudden it will be five years of the same thing. The best way to break your routine is to go outside your limitations and try something new. Confront it, break it down, and reflect. Everyone can try something new and you’ll never know what can change your life unless you do it.