cathy33April 9
Stretch, Risk, & Grow
When we are contemplating doing something new, learning something out of our comfort zone, or going someplace we have never been before, we often feel the fear and shut ourselves down, without even trying.
We want to leap too far or too fast so we just don’t leap at all. We give up without even trying. I certainly am very guilty of that. We see the place we want to go, the end result and think we can never get there.
But almost everything we want to do, learn and accomplish can be and should be broken down into steps.
Rhonda Vincent taught me a valuable lesson through her book, Change Your Life in 30 Days. Her exercise called, Stretch, Risk, or Die, helped me learn to step out of my comfort zone a little at a time.
She describes it like this, you have your comfort zone, that is what you are comfortable doing. Your first level of fear is a stretch just outside your comfort zone. Your next level of fear is a risk to you that takes some courage for you to do. And then there are the actions that you fear something bad will happen to you if you try or it will just go wrong and you will never be able to do it, those are your die actions.
What are some actions that are just a stretch for you?
What are some things you want to do that you feel you need more courage to do that is a risk for you?
And what do you wish you could do that would just overwhelm you and cause you too much anxiety?
Once you have your list, begin with doing one of your stretch items. As you build your confidence take a risk action. Take one step at a time outside your comfort zone.
