great things never came from the comfort zone
Did I eat that?
Yes.
I ate octopus. Now to some of you, that isn’t that strange given you eat sushi and such. It’s still interesting for me to just see raw octopus out to eat, or in my soup. When I was a little girl, I remember my little brother being very particular about what he would and wouldn’t eat. A lot of the time he wouldn’t try anything new and at times I can admit that I would do the same, but it got to a point of our mother or aunt saying repeatedly that you just have to try it once and then you will know if you really don’t like it, but if you never try it you will never know. I honestly tell myself that every time I have the opportunity to try something new, I won’t know if I like it unless I try it.
I have always been fearful of heights, of being on a plane, and meeting new people, but I have always pushed myself to do the things that I am most fearful of. You all know that obeying the Lord and coming on this trip was not easy, I had a lot of fear and I knew it was going to be hard to be out of my comfort zone all the time. Yet I knew that I would grow, I knew that I would find many things that I didn’t like and many things that I did! I wouldn’t have stepped into this adventure if I let the fear of being uncomfortable, or the fear of what is to come overpower everything else I would never live the life I was meant to enjoy. I loved the idea of overcoming my fear, pain is there for a reason, sometimes things hurt but the joy of overcoming the storm is so much more rewarding. I learned so much from the times that I have pushed myself to eat something new, say hello to a stranger, throw myself into a situation where I knew nothing. That is the key, I tried it. I tried it once and found out. I found out what I did and didn’t like, and I have the honor and privileged to say the Lord has blessed me with meeting so many new people, so many different stories and so many different hearts to love. I have seen so many different countries so many different experiences, and I have tried so many different foods. I can only say that as a positive, I tried, even when it was hard. I’ve experienced life to what I believe is the fullest. Can you think about a time that you held yourself back because you were unsure or uncomfortable? What is something in your life right now you could do to push yourself out of your comfort zone and maybe into a surprisingly new situation. Try it. You are going to have some amazing stories to look back on life and laugh about, like I can look back a few months ago and laugh at the fact that I ate a whole bowl of what is called ant and ant egg salad. It’s a tradition and I was honored to be told that they have to go out of their way to make it, in my brain I didn’t like it but in my mouth it really wasn’t bad at all.
I believe that is what my mother would have wanted, to push myself try new things, even if I thought I wouldn’t like, to still push myself and push my boundaries because she knew that I would grow from those times. And in all honesty, I have, those times I have pushed myself to try that new food or say hello to a new person, or volunteer to go to a different community I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone and into important moments of learning and memories to look back on and know that I tried my best to live life.
