By Tyler White | Staff Writer
Everyone has a comfort zone, which is not necessarily bad. It’s important for us to know what we’re comfortable with because it allows us to be confident and fall back when times get overwhelming. However, comfort zones become dangerous when they begin to tell us “no.”
When going into college, we often bring our comfort zones with us and rely on them early on. It is difficult to go to a new school with a bunch of new people, so it is easy to fall back on what we’re comfortable with, but that doesn’t allow us to expand our horizons. When an opportunity arises for a new experience we might not have considered before, our comfort zones may tempt us to say “no” and stick to what we know.
Coming into Baylor, my comfort zone revolved around playing volleyball. I was determined to continue playing volleyball in college and worked hard to make the club team. However, toward the end of my freshman year, one of my friends randomly invited me to try out for cheer. It would have been so easy to say “no” and stay within my comfort zone, but I wanted to step out and try something new.
Now, three years later, I’m still on the Baylor Coed Cheer Team and do not regret my decision to step out one bit. If I had let my comfort zone tell me “no,” I would have never had the experiences I’ve had throughout college, and I could not imagine doing anything else.
That’s not to say that comfort zones aren’t a good thing. In fact, comfort zones do have a lot of benefits in our lives, such as giving us confidence in experiences we know and moments of rejuvenation that we can always return to. It’s necessary to have these things so we don’t overdo ourselves.
However, the benefits of comfort zones shouldn’t automatically tell us “no” when a new experience arises. When we step outside of our comfort zones, we can grow as we take on new things and try something different. Through these different experiences, we meet new people and attempt new skills that allow us to expand our horizons.
As you go through college, appreciate your comfort zone, but try to expand and step outside of it too. If something new comes around, don’t be afraid to say “yes” and go for it. While there is still the possibility that you won’t enjoy it, there is also the possibility that it will extend the span of your comfort zone. Who knows, maybe that “yes” will lead you to something that will entirely change your time at college for the better.
