Happy New Year

Tambaguchi, Kyoto, Japan ●February 2019

Welcome. Welcome to the wonderful, bright and prosperous 2020. A year that I am forecasting to have much more excitement, many more learning moments and countless times of uncontrollable laughter. In other words, I welcome 2020 with open - and positive - arms.

To kick things off, I'm beginning the new year with a bang already. During the month of February, I am due to leave the UK and move to South Korea. Exciting right?! While I can both speak and read some Korean, I feel as though I need to do more research on the specific area that I will be moving to and the difference in culture. Moving from a country like England where everyone - myself included - has a 'Me' attitude, to a country that not only has a vertical hierarchy but focuses heavily on teamwork will prove to be a little bit hard. Therefore, I believe that I need a shift in mindset as well as my preparation techniques.

With that said, I believe that a post about remaining in and leaving comfort zones was definitely needed. Something that I can read again when I find myself feeling stagnant and not moving, and also something for my readers to read whenever they are feeling the same and lacking in the motivation field.

First things first, in my opinion, comfort zones are the perfect bubble that we have set up shop in. The place where we seek refuge when the world is seemingly against us. The place where from the moment we wake up, we are able to forecast the events that are due to take place in their entirety. Despite this sounding like an ideal place to reside, I personally cannot think of anything more terrifying. I find that by actively choosing to remain in such a place, there is no room for growth. No room for anything outside of the normal to occur. No room for you to potentially achieve any dream that you had in mind or saw yourself writing down during the changeover of the new year. 

So below I have provided myself and all of those who read this with a small list of 3 benefits of leaving your comfort zone. 

1. You're a step closer to achieving your dream(s)

Achieving your dreams is all that anyone should be striving to do in life. I'm a firm believer in, if you're not, then you should be actively trying to change your living situation so that you are, or you should at least reevaluate what it is that you truly want.

However, if you're anything like me, the idea of success is something that always frightened me. Not because I was scared to fail. But, purely because I was actually scared to succeed. However, during the challenging yet highly rewarding year of 2019, I realised that if you do come into something good, advantageous situations or in fact success, then it was truly well deserved and not a stroke of luck. 

In fact, such scenarios, regardless of however big or small they are, are a glimpse into the different types of things that you can achieve if you just trust both yourself and the current situation to provide you with all that is needed to succeed.

2. You meet some incredible people on the way out

One of the things that people sometimes fail to mention are the amazing souls and kind hearts that you come into contact with once you leave your comfort zone. More often than not I have found myself meeting and having conversations with people who share a similar mindset to myself, have similar dreams, wants and ambitions or are actually a (or five) stage ahead of myself. Meaning they are the very people that I can learn from, share stories with and actively work together with by helping the other to achieve their dream.

On the opposite side of the fence, I find that if you choose to stay in your comfort zone - despite being surrounded by loved ones - there are not many chances for you to come into contact with those who have been on life-changing journeys and have an amazing story to tell. There are also little chances to meet people who have come into contact with the worst possible scenario but have still managed to find the good within.

Step outside of your comfort zone and see what happens.

3. You won't want to stop

Humans can be very greedy creatures. Meaning that once they come into contact with something that they like, they will find any way to keep it coming. The same can be applied to success, great experiences and meeting great people. Think about it. When we come back from an amazing holiday, we develop those dreaded holiday blues, and find ourselves wanting to return rather than to be fully present within the current moment. Why not choose to do the same when leaving your comfort zone? Find an amazing dream, ambition and want that you would prefer to attach yourself to, and stop at nothing to get yourself there. And surely enough, day by day you will see yourself slowly chip away at your dream, achieving more and being more. In other words, that sense of achievement and completion that you will receive from striving towards your dream, you won't want to stop. Success will be just around the corner.

So in all, leaving your comfort zone starts with the simple act of putting your shoes on and walking out of the door, even if your mind is telling you to stay put.

Millie xx

What I was listening to whilst making this post

HYUKOH - TOMBOY

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