We’ve all surely heard that one of the most powerful ways to achieve personal growth is to “step outside our comfort zone.” It makes sense – trying new things or pushing ourselves beyond what feels comfortable, we discover incredible things about ourselves that we wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
For instance, by digging deep and pushing through the pain in a marathon, we uncover mental and physical strength buried deep inside. By facing our fear of heights and taking a rock-climbing course, we discover that we are stronger than our fears. These priceless experiences of empowerment can be applied to every other part of our lives.
But here’s a question –
Do we need to run 26.2 miles or summit Mt. Everest to discover our power to overcome doubt, pain and fear?
No. No we don’t, and here’s why – Because we are Women.
We’ve stood in front of a mirror at the age of eleven, facing the fear that our chest would never grow to measure up to the images we saw in the magazines.
We’ve stared into that same mirror as young women struggling to accept our bodies in spite of what society would have us believe our bodies should look like.
We’ve dated men who had only their own interests in mind, had our hearts broken and recovered.
We’ve stared down the boss or professor who smiled patronizingly when we stood up to disagree with his opinion.
We’ve ignored the cat calls during our runs and kept pushing forward with our head held high.
We’ve held our girlfriends, sisters and mothers as they struggled through heartbreak, and we’ve been each other’s rock more times than we can count.
We’ve carried human beings in our bodies and have been stretched in ways so painful we thought we might split in half.
We’ve gone years without a good night’s sleep, our ears and hearts on high alert in case our children cried out in their sleep. And we’ve gotten up and taken care of our responsibilities the next day regardless.
We’ve worn paths in the floor holding a feverish child, wishing desperately that we could make their discomfort our own… to spare them the pain.
And we’ve watched those same little souls grow and stumble and hurt, while we stood helpless on the sidelines hurting right along with them.
We’ve poured our hearts and souls into giving our children the very best foundation for life that we could, knowing all along that our reward would be eventually losing them to the world, so they could live happy lives on their own terms.
In all these situations and so many more, we’ve faced our discomfort head-on… and survived. In some cases, we thrived, and other times we barely made it through with our hearts intact. But WE MADE IT. We stepped into discomfort and we freaking pushed through.
Every single day we step outside our comfort zones, living our strength, and most of the time we don’t even realize it.
Does it take strength and discomfort to run a marathon or climb a mountain? Hell yes it does! And those are amazing ways to learn priceless things about ourselves.
But mountain or no mountain, we already have all the strength we need deep inside us… because we are Women.
So let’s give ourselves credit for all the comfort zones we’ve stepped outside, and call on those experiences in times of doubt. We’ve pushed through discomfort and found our strength many, MANY times. And we can do it again… and again… and again…
Yes, as women, we are masters of “outside our comfort zone.” And once we remember that, there’s truly nothing we can’t do.
Xx Jen
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