Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

I didn’t really want to go, so I knew that was reason enough for going.

Have you ever read a newspaper cover to cover? But truly from the first page to the last page, every single article, ad, editorial and classified? I’ve only done it a few times (pre-job, pre-kids, pre-responsibility life) and that was with a specific goal in mind: to do it. The “benefit,” if I can call it that, is that you’ll be exposed to something that you normally wouldn’t be exposed to. Maybe you’ll read an article in the, say, health section of the paper that normally you wouldn’t read. Sure, you know a little about health, but if you’re reading for pleasure, you’re going to head to the section that gives you, well, pleasure. Maybe you learn something, but maybe you don’t, but that’s not the point, the point is to shake it up.

Why do we need to shake things up? Things are going just fine as they are. Why should I read somerthing I don’t really want to read? Why can’t I just go to the Entertainment section or the Sports section as I normally do? Because that’s what you normally do.

I had an invite to a dinner for a client’s annual new year’s get together. Just a dinner, not a jail sentence, not an eight-week course in tax law, but a few hours of (free) food, drink, and conversation. Why would I not want to go to that? Because it’s out of my comfort zone. I would know only one person (my main contact at the organization) and I didn’t even have much in common with the guy I knew. So what’s so awful about that? Meet some new people, eat something new, maybe have a nice time. The horror.

We talked about the lighting systems at ballparks: “foot candles” and “lumens” (well, they talked, I listened). We went through the best sci-fi shows on television (Battlestar Galactica as well as a short-lived series called Firefly). Can you say you’re a true Giant’s fan and still say you don’t hate the A’s? (Yes.) Can you say you’re a true 49er’s fan and say you don’t hate the Raiders? (No.) What West Texas is like for an Asian woman. Couldn’t the three wives of Bill Hendrickson do better? He’s such a moron. What? He’s a hard-working guy just trying to make it work. I tell you, are you married? I don’t know if I’d want to have three wives against me, one is enough.

I could go on, but I can’t. It’s seven in the morning and I have to wake up my kids. I went out of my zone, I went out of what I “normally” do and what did it cost me? What damage did it do? I can barely remember the names of people at my table. I’m not a Raiders fan, but I’m also not and Giant’s fan. I’m barely a sports fan. I had butternut squash ravioli, I don’t know how to make that and it was every-bite-good. I took a step out of my path, my not-to-curvy path, just a tiny detour.

“Foot candles”? I’m not to forget that one anytime soon.