“A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it’s built for.”  – Albert Einstein

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

“Great things never come from comfort zones.”

“A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing grows there.”

“The quickest way to acquire self-confidence is to do exactly what you are afraid to do.” – Anon.

The quotes regarding this topic are endless.  Do you know why that is? In my opinion because it is the TRUTH.  In order to learn, grow, and develop we are required to push ourselves outside of that safe place that we are comfortable in.

Think about it.  I mean really stop and think about it. When is the last time you did something that scared you, gave you butterflies, caused you to doubt yourself, or was something you never imagined doing?  How did you feel in the moment AND how did you feel after you did it? You must have lived to tell about it (otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this!). Reflecting back, I am reminded of a particular series of outside-my-comfort-zone moments that lead me to where we chose to build a house that is our forever home.

When I went to college I chose to live in the dorms and my roommates were chosen for me.  Talk about scary – here I was a 17, almost 18, year old moving into a room for a whole year, having no clue who the other two girls I would be living with were.  We are not talking about an apartment style dorm room where we each had a bedroom and shared a living room and kitchen.  We are talking a 20×20 room (since it was a corner room and there would be 3 of us), where you sleep, get ready, and study.   We got to know each other and while we had some differences, we all survived the year together.

The next year, I moved into an apartment with my best friend and a friend of hers, who quickly became my friend.  That was a safe and comfortable move, which eventually lead me to the next move.  My best friend had gotten a job at the University of Nebraska Research Feedlot and met Tom. Tom was renting a farm house near the feedlot.

My bestie had been driving 60 miles each day back and forth to work and with her new class schedule would have had to increase her daily mileage to 120 miles if she wanted to keep working at the feedlot. She had also been keeping her horses at a friend’s acreage outside of Lincoln. It was nice, but it wasn’t the most convenient.  So, we started to discuss the possibility of moving into the farm house with Tom. That would mean this City Girl would have about a 30 mile drive to campus for class every day, be moving in with more people she didn’t know, all the while going against her parent’s wishes (who were extremely concerned about her having to drive because it was outside of THEIR comfort zone).  After much debating, we went for it and over the summer between my sophomore and junior year, I was officially living the country life!

It was scary. It was unknown. It caused me to go against my parents. And… it was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made.  I fell in love with this slower, quieter, peaceful life. That same year, I met my husband, who shared my passion for country living. We made it our goal to find an acreage to build a house on and that is exactly what we did!

Moral of the story, push yourself to do that thing that scares you, gives you butterflies, causes you to doubt yourself – you never know where it will take you!

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