Life Begins At the End of Your Comfort Zone

The thought of starting something new can be somewhat unnerving, even challenging to the human mind. As I sit reflecting upon this new season that I am about to embark upon, I find that while the timing surrounding it is new, the season itself is not.  While the events announcing its arrival are different, the season itself is not. Oh yes, the announcement of this very moment were spoken of some years ago; they were dreamed about, desired and chronicled line by line and yet, with all of the background preparation, all of the knowledge required to maneuver though it, and all of the experiences that would make one an expert in it, it is still very unnerving, still very edgy.  With every tear, each lesson learned, and every culminating event that led to this very point, sweaty palms and queasy stomachs are still evident.  Yet, I know this is something that I must move out into. Neale Donald Walsch coined the phrase, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” and for most of us the, comfort zone is exactly that. It is a zone in which we are most comfortable, you know, like being wrapped in your favorite blanket, hugging a warm bowl of tomato soup and eating a gooey grilled cheese sandwich. To find yourself at the end of you comfort zone speaks of finality. Finality to something you once knew, something you once understood, something that was just that…comfortable. It pronounces the death to the familiar, that place of retreating when the world seems like it’s caving on around you.  That familiar place of old sweatshirts, baggy sweatpants, and lack luster college t-shirts.  You know that place, your go to place, where everything stays the same, nothing changes, and it is always there to say, “It’s going to be alright.” Yes, that secret place that you let no one into because if they learn about your secret hideaway they will learn about the way you hide, from people, places, and purpose.  Yes, it’s like those comfortable clothes that you put on and they fit you so well and while you don’t want them to fit the way they do, they do. They just DO! And so to find yourself at the end of a period so comfortable, so peaceful, it stirs up the very thing that we are told is not supposed to be and that is fear. And so, as I find myself reflecting, pondering, wondering about the why’s and how’s and when’s and is this really meant to be, the answers come rushing like a white water rapid. “Yes it is really meant to be, and why because God said it is so, and when is it going to happen, its happening right now and….is it, meant to be, yes it is.”  So coming to the end of my comfort zone means coming to the end of everything I once knew. Coming to the end of everything I once knew, coming to the end of everything I once believed, coming the end of everything I once said is so. Aha! Coming to the end of my comfort zone means coming to the end of ME! And as I come to the end of myself, I finally realize, as many of you will finally realize, that that is where life truly begins.  So while this new season begins, I encourage you as I encourage myself, to begin to truly live life and come to the end of your comfort zone, my comfort zone, our comfort zone.