The comfort zone is so comfortable

I don’t watch that much TV but one show I’m really digging at the moment is Star Trek: Lower Decks. In an episode entitled “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie”, there’s a scene in which Rutherford is nervous about an assignment on an alien ship, away from his familiar surroundings.

“You need to get outside your comfort zone,” Tendi tells him.

“But I love my zone!” Rutherford replies.

I am definitely Rutherford, minus the cybernetic implant. Though I probs do have a cybernetic implant now that I’m double-vaxxed, it’s just not visible on my face. 😉

Anyway, Rutherford likes his zone and I like my zone because it’s just so damn comfortable. People say things like, “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.” But… room is good. I like my space.

I like familiarity. I live dangerously by taking afternoon naps (not during work days obviously) and then trying to fall asleep again at a reasonable hour at night. 😛 Having to (ew) market myself and talk about my book is definitely not within my favoured zone.

But I do generally feel good about myself after the fact when I push myself outside my comfort zone.

For instance, I decided to work in libraries even with the full understanding that it was essentially a customer service job (as opposed to a “sit amongst books and shush people” job). And the first few times I had to answer the phone and talk to clients, I was pretty flustered, but now I’m fine with it.

Recently, I did a beginner salsa class and it was actually fun. I probably wouldn’t do it again — I’m not a dancer and I don’t like all that unnecessary touching, haha. But I’m glad I tried it.

And then there’s Black and Blue. I sat on the manuscript for a long time, thinking that if I never published it, it would never have the opportunity to fail. Now it’s about to be unleashed upon the world and some of you are going to hate it, but that’s okay. I’m happy it’s getting out there.

Like Rutherford, I’m trying to forge ahead with the mission. And like Rutherford, (spoiler alert) I have not died.

And yes, I realise there was nothing particularly mind blowing about that snippet of conversation between Rutherford and Tendi, and I could’ve talked about stepping out of my comfort zone without bring it up at all. But I didn’t want to because Lower Decks is awesome. 🙂