Beyond The Comfort Zone

In this episode, I delve into the importance of challenging ourselves across all areas of life, from personal to professional. 

Sharing my own experiences of stepping into fear and embracing challenges, I highlight how I ventured out of my comfort zones in the kitchen, at work, and beyond. 

I stress the significance of growth through discomfort, urging you to question your own comfort zones and to dare to step beyond them. 

Whether it's pursuing a new job, exploring unfamiliar cuisines, or trying out a new hobby, the act of challenging oneself is key to growth and fulfillment. 

I share anecdotes about overcoming my fears in cooking and career changes, illustrating the transformative power of facing and embracing fear. 

Join me in rejecting the "should have, could have, would have" mindset, and let's explore the exhilarating opportunities that await us beyond our comfort zones. 

Don't miss out on this invitation to challenge yourself and expand your horizons.

Transcript

 Hello,  beautiful soul. I'm Sarah Michaels and welcome to the Elated You Podcast, where we dive deep into the world of self discovery, growth, and healing to find out who you truly are. 

So today I really want to talk about challenging yourself and I want to talk about challenging yourself because I recently started challenging myself. everywhere in my life. So I started challenging myself and stepping into fear, you know, a few years ago, but I didn't realize that I was only doing it in a few areas of my life.

And since I've been challenging myself literally everywhere. And I say that like in the gym, you know, in the kitchen, I really want to put it to you. Is that like, where, where are you comfortable in your life right now? Where do you find This is your comfort zone. Like maybe for you, it's your job and you love your job.

You love your position. Or maybe, you know, the kitchen, you're like, I'm a really good cook. This is what I do. Wherever it is that you feel that you're comfortable, I'm going to set a task for you to challenge yourself even further. And actually to step out of that comfort zone, actually maybe try and go for a promotion or even look at a different job that you may be, you know, something that you've always looked at, but always been too scared because you just thought it's just safer here.

This is my job. You know, I know these people and the same thing with the kitchen. When I say the kitchen, I'm bringing this up today because today I decided to make these.  It's like a Middle Eastern dish with fish and tahini and coriander. And it's not even a difficult dish, but because I'd never made it before, I just always in the back of my mind thought I couldn't make it.

And I've been doing that a lot lately. I used to tell myself that I can't bake. I can't do this. And it's just a lie. It was just that I was comfortable making schnitzel, spaghetti bolognese, you know, lasagna. Like I had my dishes that were always on rotation. And although I looked at people cooking and admired people that did other stuff and went out of their comfort zone, I just thought, Oh, that's just them.

And because I've been challenging that thought lately and going, hold on, that's just a story. Have you ever tried baking? Have you ever tried to make new dishes? And if you have, what's happened? And maybe it didn't turn out. Maybe you went for the job promotion and it didn't actually, you know, you didn't get it, but it doesn't mean that you stop trying.

And the reason why I say this is because it's really important that we get out of our comfort zone.  It's so important. And why is it so important? Because if you're not challenging yourself, you're not growing. And it's such a hard truth to swallow. And so many people hate hearing it, but it is, it's a hard truth.

It is the truth. If you're not challenging yourself, if you're not stepping into fear, you're not growing because you are stuck in the familiar, you are stuck in your comfort zone. And if you stay in your comfort zone, guess what? You're going to stay in that zone.  You're not going to achieve all the things that you want to achieve.

And maybe that's good for you right now and where you are in your life. But I can tell you now, if you've got goals and you've got dreams and you've got aspirations, what happens is as you get older, and this is when you see people getting, you know, into their forties, they're like kicking goals. And you're like, how come they're kicking goals now?

Because they've actually woken up to the fact that they don't want to keep living their life. In that comfort zone in what's familiar, they actually want to challenge themselves and they want to get out there and they want to make something for themselves because.  You don't really want to die and go, I should have, I could have, I would have.

And I always say this to my clients because so many of us and me, one, I was always saying that I should have done this and I could have done this.  And I was like 30 and then I was 35 and I was like, I could have been a singer. I should have been a comedian. I could have been, I could have had a restaurant and been a cook.

Why can't you do it now? Why can't you start trying now? Why can't you challenge yourself now, you know, because the way you show up in one area is the way you show up in all areas. So, if you're not challenging yourself, let's say in the kitchen, then you're not challenging yourself at work, then you're not stepping out of your comfort zone, you know, Wherever it may be, maybe you want to travel, but you're like, nah, I'll just stay here.

Cause I know Melbourne really well or whatever, or maybe you actually want to live overseas. You're not going to do that. If you haven't taken the smaller steps to get to out of your comfort zone and feel what that feels like, because this is a process. This isn't just, um, you know, all going straight to the big goal and saying, okay, this is what I want to do.

And this is where I'll go. No, no. You've got to start small. So for me, I've started doing that a lot. I've really started challenging myself and going today, I'm going to make something new. And every time I do it, it's like, well, well, you know, what happens if you hold onto the story? Well, my kids are going to have boring food forever.

Well, boring food, but the same food when there are all these other dishes that I could have, you know, introduced their palette to, which I've done now, you know, or stay in the same job, like stay in the same job for 20 years, because you are too scared to go for that. You know, promotion or position or that new job, maybe you're in sales and you're like, do you know what, I actually wanted to own a restaurant all my life.

Why don't I do that? I'm really good at it.  So I really ask you to start challenging yourself because it is so exciting when you do. And don't be like me. Don't be a Sarah where you're like, I should have, and I could have, and I would have when I was 30. And here I am now at 48 this year, I'm going to be in July and I'm getting singing lessons.

I'm getting singing lessons now. I wasn't getting singing lessons when I was 30. Cause I was like, Oh, it's just a waste of money. Like what am I going to do with it? I mean, these are the stories. And I was holding onto a story of not actually singing and performing because when I used to perform. I used to get really bad stage fright and when I said this to the singing teacher, I actually said to her, I said, you know, I haven't sung in a long time.

I'm really scared if we're going to do this and I'm going to sing at the Paris cat. I'm scared because this is what happens to me when I get up on stage. And she challenged me and she said to me, when was the last time you got up on stage to sing? And I said, 20 years ago, and she said, well, haven't you done standup comedy recently?

And I was like, yes, actually I have, which is one of the scariest things I reckon you can do.  And then I started thinking about how much I've grown, how much I've changed since I actually got up on the stage and sung. Like I was in my twenties, I'm now in my forties. But I was holding onto a story that I couldn't do it. 

And what happens when you hold onto a story, mate, that was holding me back from singing. I could have been singing for the last 20 years, last two decades. I could be living the dream that I actually love instead of working for people and doing everything else that I was doing that I wasn't enjoying, which meant I was out of alignment.

So I challenge you to try something new. Please let me know. Direct message me. Send me a message. Tell me how you're going, because it really is exciting on the other side. And to be honest, the best analogy I have for this is imagine a lift and here you are, you get up on the lift and you get out to ground floor and you know that the lift can take you up to level four and level five and level six, but you're like, Oh, but it's so much, it's so much easier here.

Cause I actually know everyone on ground floor. I know everything. I know how to get here. I know my way around. So I'd rather just. Stay here. But what if level four was so much better than the ground? Or what if you got on lift and you went up to level 10 and it was even better than level four. Like imagine the opportunities that you're missing out on because you'd rather stay with what you know, than what you don't know. 

Thanks for listening. If you found value in this content, please subscribe to my podcast and head over to Instagram at elated underscore you to see what I'm getting up to. Bye. 

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