The Edges of Our Comfort Zones

For work, I’ve been researching learning.

Did you know that the deepest learning comes when we are at the edges of our comfort zone?

That our brains remember that learning because more neurons are firing?

More neurons are firing perhaps because we are kind of freaking out in the uncomfortable space.

And I’m saying perhaps because I’m not looking up the research or looking at my notes.

While I’m remembering the learning that happened while I wrote my two books. How freaked out I was in the beginning of the process. How I didn’t think I could do it until I decided that I could. How I sat in our bedroom and cranked out chapter after chapter, never really comfortable. Astrid and I joked that we wouldn’t be done until the book was being printed. Two books: boom. Totally uncomfortable while working on them.

While my husband worked to make me see I could do the work. While he made our home a safe space and did so much heavy lifting when it came to taking care of our girls and home.

Right now, I think all the people in my family are working at the edges of our comfort zone. I have a junior  filtering all the pressure to figure out her future or at least figure out a few colleges that she might want to attend. While learning how to drive, a few months into getting her license. While learning how to navigate and strengthen friendships. I’ve said enough, and I won’t bore you with the three other journeys happening here.

But that being at the edge of your comfort zone calls for comfort: a safe space to land. Home. Habits that feed you. Love to surround you. Down time to just be without any doing.

That’s what I am thinking about today. About the puzzle I’ve been working on in my down time, focusing on which piece fits where. And the love that surrounds me. How much I need home as I continue to work at the edges of my comfort zone. I hope you have that home space too, from the home you carry inside you to all the places you go to and live within in that make you feel safe and loved.

See you tomorrow.

 

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