Comfort Zone

What Happened When I Stepped Outside My Comfort Zone

Yesterday I did something that was completely outside my comfort zone. I went to a spiritual retreat on my own.

When I booked it, there was only one space left. I had thought about asking someone to come with me, but when I checked again it was fully booked. It almost felt like that was my answer. I could either talk myself out of going because I had nobody to go with, or I could just do it on my own.

So I did.

I was nervous beforehand because going somewhere like that alone is not something I would normally do. Walking into a room where you don’t know anybody can feel really uncomfortable, but once I was there, that feeling didn’t last long at all.

The day was filled with different workshops and experiences including meditation, breathwork, sound healing, Qigong, chakra work, Reiki and different spiritual practices. Some were things I’d already explored before and others were completely new to me, but I went into the day open to trying everything and seeing what I connected with.

One of my favourite workshops was psychic encaustic art. We chose different coloured waxes based purely on what we felt drawn towards and used them to create a little piece of artwork. There was no plan for what we were making and it wasn’t supposed to look like anything in particular.

We then swapped our artwork with somebody we didn’t know and had to look at what they had created and say what we felt from it. We had prompts to help us look at the colours, shapes, energy and emotions within the picture, but ultimately it was about trusting whatever came to us rather than trying to logically work it out.

We actually got each other pretty spot on.

The person reading mine saw mountains. She felt that my passion was at the top of the mountain and that I needed to keep climbing towards it because that was where I was meant to be.

That really stayed with me.

There are times when following something you’re passionate about does feel like climbing a mountain. You know where you want to go, but you don’t necessarily know exactly how you’re going to get there. Sometimes you can see the top and sometimes you can only see the next bit in front of you.

I loved the artwork and what it came to represent so much that I came home and framed it.

We also did a shamanic journey to meet our spirit animal guides. We were being guided through the meditation and apparently my fox had absolutely no interest in waiting until the instructions were finished because she appeared almost immediately.

The person sitting beside me had exactly the same thing happen with her white wolf, which gave us both a laugh afterwards.

Sound healing was another part of the day that really stood out to me. I’ve already started exploring sound healing myself, but being able to experience it in a different environment and see different ways that sound can be incorporated into healing made me even more interested in it.

When I got home, I practised with my own crystal singing bowls. I set the room up with candles and my salt lamp, made everything feel calm and comfortable and just completely lost myself in what I was doing.

I absolutely loved it.

What surprised me was how calming it was for me while I was actually giving the sound healing. I wasn’t thinking about anything else. I was completely present with the bowls, the sounds and what I was doing. It was one of those moments where something just felt right, and it made me even more certain that this is something I want to continue learning about and developing.

But one of the nicest things to come out of the retreat had nothing to do with a workshop.

I made a new friend.

I’d gone there alone and happened to sit beside somebody else who had also come alone. We started talking and quickly realised we had quite a lot in common. We had both recently started our own businesses and, completely by coincidence, we had both turned up carrying bags advertising those businesses.

There were so many little coincidences and synchronicities throughout the day that eventually we were just laughing about them.

We exchanged details and stayed in touch after the retreat, and by the following morning I had somehow signed myself up for a year-long witchcraft course that she already attends. We’re even going to be sitting together.

Apparently stepping outside my comfort zone escalates quite quickly.

The whole experience made me think about how often we miss things simply because we don’t want to do them alone.

There’s nothing wrong with having a comfort zone. It’s comfortable for a reason. But sometimes the things that are waiting just outside it are worth that initial uncomfortable feeling.

If I’d decided not to go because I didn’t have anyone to go with me, I would have missed the entire day.

I wouldn’t have tried some of the things I did. I wouldn’t have discovered how strongly I feel about continuing with sound healing. I wouldn’t have made the artwork that is now sitting framed in my home. I wouldn’t have met someone new. And I certainly wouldn’t have expected to wake up the following morning and enrol in a year-long witchcraft course.

None of that required me to suddenly become fearless.

I just had to be uncomfortable for a little while and go anyway.

I think sometimes we wait until we feel completely confident before we do something new, when maybe confidence comes afterwards. Maybe it’s built through all those little moments where you prove to yourself that you can walk into the room alone, sit down, talk to somebody new and see what happens.

Yesterday started with me stepping outside my comfort zone.

I came home very glad that I had.

And that little mountain I brought home with me feels like the perfect reminder.

I don’t need to know exactly how I’m going to reach the top.

I just need to keep climbing.

Daily Affirmation

Nova x