Get free transition tips & my '10 ways to empower your journey'

stepping out of your comfort zone: growth that spreads

What brings you a breath of fresh air? Every day routine can lead to efficiency, mindlessness or boredom. Experiencing something new grows your creativity, capacity and confidence. How often do you introduce a growth experience into your life?

Recently I enrolled in a metal art class. I love handmade objects, but have old messages warning against my artistic talents. Childhood art and music classes provide opportunities to awaken interests, but if done poorly can dash a child’s confidence in trying something new. My early conclusions were that I possessed neither musical nor artistic talent. These doors were closed for me and much was lost.

And yet throughout my life I’ve loved working with my hands. So independently I did sewing, weaving, knitting and beading. They relaxed me and gave me a final product.

I also became a “patron” of artists and love hearing about their journeys, learning their processes and buying their works. I want to encourage and support them in their dreams and efforts. But I also admire how free and courageous they are to follow their passions.

But what about my dreams and passions? What did I ignore and fear? My career as a psychotherapist and coach found me operating mostly in my head and heart. I don’t use my body in my work. Where is your career focus: head, heart, body? And what changes are required to become whole?

People approaching new learning or returning to previous interests can expand their brain capabilities. Through neuroscience’s concept of neuroplasticity, we now know that the brain grows new neural pathways through stimulation. The experience of being out of your comfort zone by taking on something brand new allows you to develop many skills including creativity, perseverance and flexibility that are beneficial in your current career. Plus this change of focus promotes energy to sustain a long work life.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”
Neale Donald Walsch

Amy has been a physician for 40 years. She loves her work, but it feels repetitive at times. She regrets the administrative parts of her job, but loves patient contact and solving medical challenges. Amy notices friends are taking up dance, music and painting. They report joy in their endeavors, meeting new people and expanding their interests. Amy wants to find something new for herself, but she admits some fear and uncertainty.

A frequent concert fan, Amy starts thinking about playing an instrument. In high school she played the violin, but gave it up in college. “What if I could study music and be around people who play?” Amy does some research and finds a local community college offering piano lessons. She enrolls.

Amy loves jazz and convinces her teacher to begin lessons in that genre. At first Amy is a fish out of water, but eventually the practices become pure joy as she gets lost in the music. She meets other enthusiasts, young and old, and they talk of playing together.

While Amy has a stressful job and is tired at the end of the day, after a piano lesson she feels rejuvenated. She finds herself approaching her medical practice with new eyes and excitement.

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

So what do you want to take on? How long have you languished in your comfort zone? Perhaps it feels like you are constantly challenged in the work place. You’re tired of feeling stretched and never comfortable.

But taking a risk in a different environment can prove satisfying. Maybe you use your body all day, but rarely your heart. Taking on challenges in a new environment and developing unfamiliar skills constitute an act of courage. Proving to yourself that you CAN do something out of your comfort zone is a message that will carry you anywhere in the world.

Where do you want to grow?

What area would be a challenge for you?
Pick an interest
Take one class
Evaluate your growth
Continue or change again

Take that smile of satisfaction with you on your next path!

 

the side job: expressing your passions

A young college student asked me this week, “Should I study what I like or what will get me a job?” She earnestly wanted me to say, “Study what you love”. Which I did.

Didn’t you start out that way? Picking a path that was calling you. Youth is a time for risks. It’s a time to learn more about yourself. Perhaps along the way you realized you needed skills and experience that would finance you and possibly family in later life. So you found work that paid for housing, food, clothing, fun. But maybe you miss the love you left behind.

That passion or great interest that you experience at one or many times in your life feels almost like play. It is of such significance that you want to experience it endlessly. Maybe it’s in the fields of art, music, writing, history or science. For some reason you react differently when you are in it. It feeds you. You may wonder how did this happen? Other people don’t seem so compelled by my love.

But you are. Maybe for a short time or maybe the fascination stays with you forever. And what if you ignore it? What if you brush it aside as if it’s silly, impractical, not important to your future or survival.

The hard truth is if you ignore it, you’ll rob yourself of an opportunity to express a piece of yourself. You’ll shut off the chance to voice your spirit. And your life will become less because of it.

Many people find a way to have both: they work to pay the bills and also emerse themselves in something they love. Or if you are really fortunate, your career may be something you love. In her book ” The Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear” Elizabeth Gilbert encourages us to answer the call of curiosity and creativity. “Creative fields make for crap careers, but creative living can be an amazing vocation”.

Often it takes maturity and experience to turn a love into a career. Gilbert herself had many writing jobs before her fourth book was so successful she could support herself. Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, discovered a way to do both while in college.

“Curiosity is what keeps you working steadily, following that scavenger hunt of curiosity can lead you to amazing, unexpected places”

Elizabeth Gilbert

Another model is to have a main career that provides for your material needs and a side job that fuels your soul. Geneva is a ceramist. Her fine art work is unique and valued by a wide audience including galleries and museums. At one time she supported herself by showing her work at national art shows.The economy was booming and people were decorating their homes and offices. Today is different. Older people are downsizing and younger aren’t spending on art. In order to make a living now Geneva is teaching high school ceramics. She receives satisfaction in mentoring young students and still does her art on the side. She advises her classes not to expect to make a living making pots, but to express their creativity and discover their passions.

Brad is a writer working on his third history book. Since sales of his books don’t support him, Brad works for an association doing technical writing. Both Geneva and Brad continue with their loves of art and writing and have created related careers. Perhaps when their financial resources grow, they can turn their paying careers into the side jobs and give their passions their main attention.

Other people jump into volunteer positions or take classes to have an opportunity to do what they love or to determine what fits. Some choose to use their talents on issues or populations they care for in order to feel a special contribution. The essential point is to feed the part of your soul that puts you in flow. That part that is so intriguing you don’t ever want to stop, the engagement that transforms you.

Find your Side Job:

Identify your interests
Make time to express them
Ask if they can support you
If not find additional work
Continue to grow in your passions

Take the leap and see you on the path!