Thursday, September 15, 2011

Comfort zone

Tuesday evening I came home to my empty apartment (after a crazy embarrassing time at my first kickboxing class) with a bruised and swollen arm and my first parking ticket. And I got to thinking, "Man oh man is it hard to be outside of my comfort zone." 

Most recently my comfort zone has included things like: driving the same way to school and home every day; parking in the same wide spots in the parking garage; attending lectures for 4-6 hours a day; studying the same way for every test; going home, making dinner, and eating with my love; doing yoga in my living room and jogging for exercise.

Things that are outside of my comfort zone are things like: having to drive a different route or to somewhere I've never been; parallel parking; sticking a needle into someone for a grade; getting needles stuck into me for someone else's grade; not being able to successfully study the same way for a test; trying new ways to exercise that I have never done before (and/or that I'm horribly bad at); and being home alone every night this week. 

Sometimes I would much rather just stick to what's comfortable.

I have to keep reminding myself of how amazingly good for me getting outside of my zone really is.

The whole grad school thing really doesn't give me much room to get comfortable. It's a continuous challenge. There have been many-a-day when I look up from studying and say "Why am I doing this to myself? School is HARD!" But whatever. Now phlebotomy, on the other hand, was an extra challenge! (I got it first try for the test, by the way! However, my friend, who drew my blood, had a little bit of a harder time..... resulting in that bruised and swollen arm I mentioned.) 

I've been trying to get exercise other ways too. Trouble is, I'm no good at any of it. Swimming, racquetball, cycling, Pilates, kickboxing, etc... but I've decided to keep doing them anyway because it's so rewarding to see improvement every time I try! (That's easy to do when you've got such a long way to go!) And I do think that all of those things are fun, too. Just... embarrassing.

And the parking ticket... I suppose I should know the parking laws in the state/city I live in, but the only other place I've really parallel parked was Provo, and in Norfolk there are no red painted curbs to tell you where you can't park. Trust me, I looked for it. I saw that blasted fire hydrant. I just didn't know you had to be a whole 15 feet away. The whole situation might not have happened, though, if I was comfortable with my parallel parking skills ('cause actually, I have none). I would have parked long before I even got to that "spot" that put me within 15 ft of the fire hydrant. So what I'm saying is, it's time for some dreaded parallel parking practice. Practice practice practice.

But as for the home alone thing? I could really do without that one and be juuuuust fiiiiine. No more business trips for a while, hon, okay?

2 comments:

  1. What a beautifully written post. It brought tears to my eyes. You are such a good person...pushing your limits and seeing the silver lining on every cloud. And way to put your foot down on not wanting to continue "practicing" on being away from the one that matters most. You and Burke are such awesome people. I sure hope your arm heals quickly and way to go at getting it the first time. Go Jessica!

    PS You are great at tennis. You should come play some more with me! I miss you.

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  2. Kristen! I am terrible at tennis! Haha! But I would LOVE to play with you... Burke and I don't play very often but when we do I think of you. I have to not completely forget how to play so if we come back there you and I can play again. :)

    And thanks for your comment, I really miss you too!

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