NickVenturella.com 5-22-17

Pushing the Boundaries of Your Comfort Zone

May 22, 2017

It was a busy weekend, in a good way.My wife and our boys got to meet up with some different friends throughout the weekend, which felt like a refreshing change of pace from our regular routine.How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun or take a needed break?Hit reply and let me know.I’ve been doing my best to keep my energy and spirits up. I believe this habit is starting to take hold now that the sun is striving to come out regularly, but also because I’ve found myself getting out of the house more and doing things – even if I don’t want to initially.For instance, the nice weekend activities I referred to above...yeah, I didn’t initially want to do those things. I just thought I'd be more content staying at home. However, my wife was adamant and rightly so, I had a great time engaging some old and even new friends.You see, I work from home, alone for the most part, which I like, for the most part, but if I don’t force myself to get out of the house to engage others and my community it’s easy to become isolated. That’s not very good for me personally.While I’m social and like extroverted engagements, I also like my quiet alone time to get work done, but like everything it needs to be a balance to remain healthy. Extremes in any direction are not always good.Finding balance doesn’t happen overnight, and even when you have a day where you feel really good and in balance, that may be fleeting the rest of the week. That's why it's helpful to take note of what was going on during those good days to help understand why you had that feeling.So to help maintain a good balance of extroverted and introverted activities I suggest you force yourself to do some of the things you don’t initially want to do.For example, if you’re constantly going out and hanging out with friends and it feels like you’re never really home, stay in one night and read a book, draw or watch a movie.If, however, you’ve been finding yourself isolated a lot, go meets some friends out for a drink after work or simply sit in your local coffee shop for 20 minutes. Even if you don’t talk to anyone you’re getting out into the community to be around other people.Try that once or twice a week for the next 3 or 4 weeks and see how you feel. Are you looking forward to the activity you initially didn’t want to do?  Do you feel like you have a little more energy or excitement than before?Ultimately, you’re the judge of what works, but it may at least get you slightly out of your comfort zone, which is typically where positive growth happens.Have a great week!