You’ve Got to Try New Things

As we wrap up this short week about comfort zones, I want to ask this question: have you been stuck in your ways lately? For me this has been one of those trying weeks. Since Monday night I have been in bed sick, with next to no energy to get any of my regular work done. I also had to postpone three meetings I had till next week. It was out of my comfort zone to get out and just run up the street to meet people.

Yesterday, I had to get out of the house. As I’ve told you before I have a form of epilepsy. This means I must take daily medication to control seizures, eat right and keep life balance. Well I ran out of medication last night. Today was a must to go out to the store and pick it up. Unfortunately, the debit card I needed to use to pick it up was with my daughter. She left yesterday with the card and drove to Plano. So I had to get out of my comfort zone today and ride my bike to Plano (30 miles away) get the card and return to the pharmacy and get my medication. After being sick all week I was worried about the ride, thinking “Am I OK to ride my bike up there and back?”

Here in Texas, we have had one of the hottest summers in history, and it has left us with wildfires over the past week that are so close and so large the smell of smoke is in the air wherever you go. But this week, while I’ve been in bed worried and sick, the temps have dropped so nicely. To ride the motorcycle in the 80-degree outside temps is a joy. In a way, I got out of my new “sick” comfort zone by getting out to ride in this wonderful weather. To be able to ride home tonight with the temps in the 60s was like a dream come true. After all, I’ve been riding this bike in 100-degree heat night and day since I purchased it. It was a wonderful cool ride home. I even turned on the heated seat to see how warm it gets on low. To feel that warm on a cool night is a wonderful thing! It got me thinking how many times we get stuck in our ways so we can be comfortable.

I realized that in all my years the things that held me back the most in many areas I should have grown in was the fact that I liked where I was and wanted to stay there. But when you do that it does not take long for things to change anyway – whether or not you want them to – and you have to find an entirely new comfort zone. I think of how I like to always be warm when I ride in the winter, or find ways to cool off in the summer to be comfortable all the time. Well, life is not always comfortable. It has ranges of ups and downs we must face. If we always work to keep it level, then we miss out on some of the great rides that make it so much more fun.

A few months ago I wrote about life and the roller coaster, the ups the downs, the sideways turns. Think of all those exciting, fun parts to that ride. If we worked to make that fun ride one straight smooth line with all the ups and downs removed, you would not see that many people lined up on a summer day when the park is full. If you want to have a life that has those ups and downs, those adventures, stop building it into one straight, steady, even trip. Each mountain you climb is one that brings adventure, builds strength, and endurance to reach the top. When you look towards your next mountain to climb, first enjoy the downhill adventure part of the ride to get to that hill.

We will all face several forks in the road of life. You need to decide which ones you should take. In 2007, my home was robbed while I was at work one day. The people who robbed the home took my computer. It had notes for what is now my “New You” e-course. The operating system was an older one and after we received the insurance money to buy a new computer, I wanted a replacement that was set up the way my old one was. I liked the way it worked and did not want to change. It was a comment from my mom that pushed me to try the newer operating system and get a new computer this time. She made a comment to me that has stuck with me to this day when it comes to technology. She said technology is going to keep moving forward; you can either change with it or be stuck looking for antiques to work with. I think of that as we are trying to sell an antique typewriter we have here at the house that was made in the early to mid 1930s. Life is going to keep moving; are you going to change with it or keep looking for antiques to keep up with a modern world?

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time for you to live the life you dreamed of, by learning to love what you do, and those you share life with. You can be the RockStar in your world if you want to. I can help you achieve it. Contact me today and let’s get started.