How small is your comfort zone. Many people cringe when they have to do something unexpected or unuasual. In America today, we live in a culture where people only talk to those they know, or partake in activities that they know how to do. Most people are afraid to try something new. When is it that we lose that desire to explore that we have as children? When we were young, we use to leave mom's side to go out and explore our world, we expanded the zone that we feel comfortable in knowing that we can run back into that zone anytime danger nears. Unfortunately, as we grow older, we start traveling less and less outside that zone; we stop expanding it. By the time we become adults we have a zone that is pretty much set.

My question is why. When we travel outside that comfort zone, we learn something new, gain a new perspective, or meet a new friend. It occurs to me that some of our comfort zone is derived from the stereotypes we hold. Think back. Was there ever a time that you were presented with a person who was outside your definition of the stereotype you had placed them in? You probably felt out side of you comfort zone because you had defined the world around you and this person didn't fit. Most likely as you got to know the person, you began to accept them and your zone of comfort grew.

If only we could get rid of the fear that we felt going into the situation, we would not have a problem with how small our comfort zone is. Thus, when you travel out into this big old world we live in, push your fear aside and you might just find that you are comfortable with more of what is out there than what you now believe.