June 23, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode of the Build Strong Women podcast, we’re diving deep into the topic of comfort zones—what they are, why we stay stuck in them, and how to start stepping outside of them in small, brave ways.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re meant for more but fear, doubt, or routine keeps holding you back, this conversation is for you. I'm sharing real-life examples, practical mindset shifts, and simple ways to build confidence by doing things that challenge you, without overwhelming you.
You’ll learn:
- What your comfort zone really is and how it’s keeping you small
- Why stepping outside your comfort zone is key to personal growth and confidence
- How to take small, doable steps toward a stronger, bolder you
- Encouragement to break patterns and start believing in what’s possible
This episode is packed with motivation, tools, and heart—because becoming the best version of yourself starts with getting a little uncomfortable.
Follow along on my COMFORT ZONE journey over on Instagram!
Links & Resources:
👉 Grab the free Follow Through Starter Kit
👉 Grab the free Happy Habits Guidebook to build your life around what matters most!
👉 Want help staying consistent? Check out the Promise Journal
👉 Let’s connect on Instagram: @graciousadventures
👉 Sign up for Laura's weekly email: https://gracious-adventures.myflodesk.com/podcast
Loved this episode? Here’s how to support the show:
✨ Please subscribe to the podcast so you can get the show right in your favorite podcast provider and never miss an episode! Also, please take a minute to RATE & REVIEW! It would mean the world to me!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Laura Orlando and welcome to the Build
Strong Women podcast.
I believe as women that we arethe role models for the next
generation of girls.
So how do we become the bestrole models for these young
girls?
We work hard to become the bestversion of ourselves, whatever
that means to you.
It's not easy.
It takes work.
It takes learning, trying newthings, falling down and getting
(00:21):
back up again.
But that's what we do on theshow.
We dive deep into how we cangrow on the inside.
We will learn from women thatare on the same journey as us.
Just trying to become the bestversion of themselves.
Let's learn together, build ourconfidence, learn to love who we
are so that we can teach thenext generation of girls to grow
up to be strong and confidentwomen.
(00:43):
Hello everyone and welcome backto another episode of the Build
Strong Women podcast.
Thank you so much for being hereand tuning into this week's
episode.
At the time of this recording,it is finally summer break.
As a teacher, summer just feelslike a complete reset, a
complete refresh for me, and Iabsolutely love it.
So I'm super excited to berecording this episode during
(01:03):
the day.
It just makes me happy to beable to do these kinds of things
during the day and not having towait till nine o'clock at night
when everyone's sleeping in Myhouse is quiet.
I can do it right now.
I'm so excited.
So I'm really excited about thisweek's episode because we are
talking about comfort zones.
And I am going to be doingsomething for myself this
(01:24):
summer.
that is outside of my comfortzone.
And I'll talk about that later,but I really want to talk about
comfort zones and how we need tomake an effort to go outside of
our comfort zones.
Because if we don't, we aregoing to stay in the same place
as we are right now.
So if you don't know, a comfortzone is like this invisible
bubble around us in our dailylife where everything just feels
(01:47):
safe and it feels predictable.
It's that routine that youalready know.
You don't have to make hardchoices.
Everything's just easy aroundyou.
And trust me, Growing up, thatis how I wanted to live.
I wanted to live in my comfortzone.
I never wanted to go outside ofmy comfort zone because I
thought that meant thatsomething was wrong.
There's no risk involved whenyou stay in your comfort zone.
(02:08):
You're just in this safe littlespace.
Now, that bubble isn't a badthing, and I totally get it.
It actually serves a purpose.
It helps us feel this secure andsafe way.
It's not this overwhelmingfeeling.
But when you stay in thatcomfort zone, you kind of just
stay Stay in that bubble.
You never do anything thatscares you.
(02:29):
You never do anything that takesrisk.
You never do anything that helpsyou grow inside.
We kind of just stay stagnant orstuck and we avoid trying new
things.
And we often like talk ourselvesout of trying something new
because we kind of talk toourselves and say, well, what if
I'm not good at that?
Or what if I fail?
Or who am I to even trysomething like that?
(02:50):
That's what we tell ourselves.
And often as moms and women, wejust push that aside and we just
say, you know what?
It's fine.
It doesn't matter.
I'm not going to try this.
And even though inside we reallywant to do it and we just push
our feelings down, we push ourwants and our needs and we push
the things that we really wantto do in life down because we're
(03:11):
busy taking care of everyoneelse.
We have careers.
We're mothers.
We have relationships in ourlives.
And it's easy to just stay inthat comfort zone bubble and
forget that we are supposed tostretch.
We are supposed to grow.
And If we stay in the same spaceand we don't listen to those
little whispers inside ofourselves that we want to do
(03:33):
something new or we want to trysomething, we just stay stuck.
And why do we stay stuck in thisplace?
Because stepping outside ourcomfort zone is scary, period.
It brings up fears.
It brings up fear of judgmentfrom others.
We fear falling down.
We fear failing.
We fear looking weird in frontof other people or not being
good at something when we tryit.
(03:54):
And sometimes fear is actuallyactually wanting more and not
knowing how to do it and let'sbe real when we're already tired
and we have so many things onour plate and our confidence
feels less than it's easier tojust stay in our comfort zone
and do what we already know thanto do something different to go
(04:14):
off the deep end to rock theboat it's easier to just to stay
stuck but here's the truth noone talks about this enough
staying in your comfort zonedoesn't make your life easier in
the long run.
It makes it a lot smaller.
So I want you to pictureyourself 50 years from now,
depending on how old you are,and you're lying in your bed and
(04:36):
it's your time to go.
And you think to yourself, youknow what?
What am I really proud of that Idid in my life?
What am I really proud of?
Yes, you're proud of your familyand everything you did, but just
think about you for one second.
You don't want to get anotheryear older.
You don't want to be on that bedthinking, you know what?
I wish I would have tried that.
What would have happened?
(04:57):
Maybe something amazing wouldhappen.
Maybe something not amazinghappens.
You'll just never know becauseyou never took the risk to do
something outside of yourcomfort zone.
You don't want to be anotheryear older.
You don't want to be a decadeolder.
You don't want to get to the endof your life and regret not
going for something that is inyour heart.
You will always wonder what if.
(05:19):
And to me, that is a form ofabsolute torture to get to the
end of your life and think whatif I would have tried that I
wonder what would have happenedabsolutely not I don't want you
to live that way I want you totake risks what would happen if
you would have said yes to anopportunity what would have
happened if you started thatbusiness or that side hustle or
just something that you'recurious about and I'm not going
(05:41):
to say that you're going to loveeverything that you try but how
would your life be different Ilistened to a podcast and she
interviewed someone who would goand visit the dying and the
number one thing that they saidis the regret of not trying
something because they justplayed it safe.
And that's what I don't want youto do.
I know this is sounding a littlemorbid, but I'm telling you, you
(06:02):
have to go outside your comfortzone.
You have to push yourself even alittle bit because what's
waiting for you on the otherside is your growth, is
opportunity, is somethingliterally amazing.
You start to really build yourconfidence when you start
stepping outside of your comfortzone and you start doing the
things that you said you woulddo.
You said start keeping thosepromises to yourself because
(06:25):
you're stretching yourself andyou're not going to be perfect
you're going to fall down andit's not going to feel good but
that's okay what I tell my kidsall the time is that you have to
get comfortable with thatuncomfortable feeling of going
outside your comfort zone whenmy kids have to do something for
school or stand up in front oftheir class and speak or
whatever it is things that I doin my own life you have to be
(06:47):
okay and you have to know thatthat uncomfortable feeling is
going to happen it doesn't meanyou're doing It doesn't mean
that you should turn around.
Yes, in certain circumstances,of course, that's what it means.
But in things like that, youhave to tell yourself, okay, I'm
going to get uncomfortable andit's okay.
It's normal.
You have to get comfortable withbeing uncomfortable.
(07:08):
And when you start doing this,you're going to see that you're
going to start trusting yourselfa little more.
You're going to show everyonearound you that look what I can
do.
I can do hard things.
I can try.
I can grow.
And guess what?
It's not going to be perfect.
It's not going to be easy.
But that's not what it's allabout.
You are going to show everyonearound you that you can do hard
(07:31):
things.
And they don't want to see youdoing something perfectly.
They just want to see youtrying.
I think it's more inspirationaland motivational when I see
someone trying something even ifthey stink at it.
I think it's really, really coolbecause they faced their fear
and they took the next bravestep.
Okay, so now let's get into howdo we actually start stepping
(07:52):
outside of our comfort zone andtake the next brave step for us
in our life.
And I want you to know thateverybody's comfort zone is
different.
For me, some things in mycomfort zone, you would think
I'm absolutely crazy because youYou think it's just easy and you
love doing those kinds ofthings.
Absolutely not.
Everyone's comfort zone isdifferent.
So there's no like judging onanyone's comfort zone or you
(08:14):
don't need to compare yourcomfort zone to anyone else's
because you might be veryoutgoing and love to public
speak and all those kinds ofthings.
And someone else might beabsolutely terrified hiding in
the corner when they have to aska question or answer a question
or anything like that.
So you have to understand thateveryone's comfort zone is
different.
So the first thing I want you todo is I want you to acknowledge
(08:36):
where your comfort zone is atwhat is an area in your life
that feels really small rightnow or where do you feel you
have an itch for something moreor what is something that you
dream about or a better questionis what is something that you're
really curious about I am supercurious about learning how to do
pickleball I know this isn'tlike something outside my
comfort zone but I'm likecurious about it I want to try
(08:58):
it I want to see if I would likeit maybe it would be something
that I would love to do I willnever know unless I try so you
have to think think in alldifferent areas of your life.
It could be through yourcreativity, your friendships,
your health, or your big, mostwildest dreams.
I want you to acknowledgesomething that you are a little
(09:18):
curious about or you reallydream big about deep inside
yourself.
Maybe no one else even knowsthat you are thinking about this
and you are almost a littleafraid to tell anyone.
The next thing I want you to dois I want you to understand that
it's going to be a little scaryto even think about.
You You have to be okay withthat nervous feeling.
You're going to have to acceptthe fear.
(09:40):
It doesn't mean that you're notready.
It just means that you are ahuman.
You are a human being and fearis just a sign that you're just
right there on the edge ofgrowing.
And you're not going to get ridof that fear at all either.
when you even try this activityor you try to do something new.
(10:00):
You're not going to get rid ofthat fear.
That fear is going to be withyou.
You're going to feel a littleuncomfortable.
You have to just take that fearand that uncomfortable feeling
with you.
If you step outside your comfortzone, it's going to be
uncomfortable.
It doesn't mean that you'redoing something wrong or bad or
it's not for you.
And that's what I took with mefor years and years and years in
(10:21):
my life.
When I felt a littleuncomfortable, I just felt like,
oh my gosh, this isn't for methis isn't what I'm supposed to
be doing I never tried out forany team when I was younger
because I just felt like I'm notgood enough and I didn't
understand that if I kept goingI could learn and I just had
that uncomfortable feeling andI'm like oh this must not be for
me so you have to understandthat you are going to have fear
(10:44):
and you're going to feeluncomfortable and that is
totally normal Okay, the nextthing I want you to do is I want
you to take action.
I want you to write down the onething that you wanna do that's
gonna help you step outside ofyour comfort zone.
What's something that you'recurious about?
What's something that you thinkabout all the time?
And I want you to take action onit, but I don't want you to go
(11:05):
in 150%.
We're not gonna go from zero to100 and dive in deep, especially
if you're not used to doingthings outside of your comfort
zone, okay?
So say that you want to run amarathon.
That is your dream.
I want to run a marathon or evenif it's a 5k, I want to do
something like that.
(11:25):
I want you to go to the Bversion or even the C version of
that and that just might betaking a walk around your
neighborhood.
That might be going to thepeninsula or somewhere that you
live at a park and you're goingto walk the trails there.
I want you to Sign up for that Bor C version.
(11:46):
I don't want you to go signingup for a marathon when you
haven't even taken a walk aroundyour own neighborhood, okay?
The point is to move, to not beperfect at it, Yes, eventually
you want to run that marathon.
That's completely amazing andtotally awesome.
But I want you to start really,really small, okay?
So if your dream is to run amarathon, take the first step,
(12:08):
get on your shoes and go outsideand walk.
And then I want you to startrunning and then you can go from
there, okay?
So it's just about taking onesmall step.
You have to take action.
You can't sit on your couch andsay, I want to start a business
or I want to start a side hustleand and just sit on your couch
and daydream all the time.
It doesn't work like that.
Trust me, I love daydreaming.
(12:29):
I love Pinterest.
I love like thinking of all theideas, but you have to take
action.
That happened to me every momentin this business and starting my
podcast and showing up on socialmedia.
It's just, I'm not, this isn'tcomfortable for me.
I have to go outside my comfortzone to come on this microphone
and talk to you right now.
It's uncomfortable.
(12:50):
I don't think I know everything.
I absolutely do not.
I'm not an expert by any means.
I never went to school for this.
It's just something that I'mreally passionate about and it's
something that I want to do.
I want to do this in my life.
I want to help women and I can'tdo that if I'm sitting on my
couch watching TV.
I have to take action.
I have to do the BNC version atfirst and then I can go all in
(13:13):
and that's what I want you todo.
So think of one thing that youcould do that's going to help
you step outside your comfortzone this summer.
So in the spring when I wasteaching and I had a couple
moments alone by myself, I wasjust thinking about, okay, what
are some like mini comfort zonethings that I could try and get
myself to do?
Because I can stay stuck in thisreally comfortable place.
(13:37):
Because right now, I amcomfortable behind the
microphone.
But if I was like on video and Iwas trying to do this live on
Instagram or YouTube orsomething like that, I would be
absolutely terrified.
Okay, that is something that'scompletely outside my comfort
zone.
And now that I'm talking aboutit, saying this It's probably
something I should do with mypodcast is put it on video.
(13:57):
But right now, I'm comfortablebecause I'm behind the
microphone.
I have my computer right here.
I literally have no makeup on inmy pajamas, and I am just
talking to you like you're oneof my friends.
And so I was thinking, okay, Ineed to push myself outside my
comfort zone this summer.
I'm not going to stay in thisreally comfy place this summer.
Last summer, I was not in a goodplace.
(14:19):
Like I said, I did this...
promise challenge for myselflast summer, where I'm going to
keep a promise to myself andactually follow through on it.
And it literally changed mylife.
And that's why I created thesummer promise challenge for
this summer.
And I wanted to do somethingsimilar to that.
So I'm not just staying stuck inthe summer because I do love
(14:40):
summer as a teacher.
It's relaxing.
It's fun.
It's a reset for me.
But at the same time, I can getin a Not so good a place because
I'm not following through on thethings that I want to do.
And sometimes I think I need topush myself outside my comfort
zone to really get me motivatedand to take the leap on
something new.
So I was brainstorming all theselittle things that I could do
(15:03):
for myself that are like littlemini comfort zone challenges
that I could try.
So I want you to do the samething for you.
I wrote a list and I'm going tobe sharing about it on
Instagram.
I'm actually starting this weekof little things to push myself
outside my comfort zone.
And you might think some of mythings are actually a little
crazy, but I want to do this formyself.
(15:25):
And You might think that thesearen't going outside of your
comfort zone at all, but maybesome of them of my ideas you're
going to actually like andyou're going to try as well.
So some of the things that Iwrote down, I'm not going to
share all of them, but some ofthe little things that I wrote
down are one of them is I wantto read a fiction book.
I am obsessed with nonfictionbooks and learning and growing.
(15:46):
And what can I do next to be thebetter version of myself?
And I never take the time tojust like relax and just relax.
Just be.
So one of my goals is to read afiction book this summer.
So that's what I'm going to do.
It's completely outside mycomfort zone.
I know the entire time I mightbe thinking like, oh my gosh,
this is such a waste of time,but it's something that's going
(16:06):
to push me outside my comfortzone.
I also want to take a hike inthe woods with my husband.
I want to go live on Instagram.
That is very scary for me to beon video.
I'm going to try to go makeupfree for an entire week.
I feel like sometimes I hidebehind my makeup like I can't go
do I can't do this.
I can't do that because I don'thave my makeup on or done.
(16:27):
I can't be on video.
I want to go makeup free for awhole entire week and just be
free, not even think about it orcare.
The next thing I want to do is Iwant to run a mile without
stopping.
Okay, you might be laughingright now, especially if you're
a runner, but I...
I don't know what it is.
There's a certain point in myrun where I just like stop.
(16:47):
I'm like, okay, I just have towalk a little bit.
I don't think I can do this.
I want to run a whole milewithout stopping.
And then my son's in thebasement right now running three
miles on the treadmill like it'snothing.
Another thing that I want to dois I want to reach out for
possible collaborations with mybusiness and sending those scary
(17:07):
emails to people that I want tocollaborate with.
And yes, it's superuncomfortable and things like
that.
but I really wanna do that.
Another thing I wanna do is Iwanna write a lot of words for
my book this summer.
My goal is to write 40,000 wordsfor my book.
We'll see if that happens.
But it's something that's reallygoing to push me outside my
comfort zone because I know Ican be like, nope, I'm going to
(17:29):
do this instead.
I'm not going to write my bookbecause that's something that's
so in the future.
But I really want to take thetime to do that.
And it's going to get me alittle uncomfortable because I'm
going to push myself to do it.
So I have a lot of other thingsI'm going to try this summer
that's really going to help mestep outside of my comfort zone.
And I hope that you'll followalong with me over on Instagram.
(17:49):
It's going to be fun.
And I'm going to take you alongthe way.
It's not something that I'mgoing to put out for everyone.
Like if you want to try thischallenge, it's really for me,
but I would love for anyone thatwants to do some comfort zone
things too.
Maybe we can do this togetherbecause it is uncomfortable to
do things that you think are alittle scarier out there.
And I know that it just helps usgrow and to learn and just to be
(18:14):
a better version of ourselves.
And you are so much braver thanyou give yourself credit for.
Bravery is not this like loud,flashy thing.
And that's what I'm not tryingto do on Instagram.
I'm actually really doing thisfor myself.
I'm like, I want to do thesethings to help me grow inside.
Being brave is actually quietand steady.
(18:34):
And it shows up in those tinylittle moments where we tell
ourselves we're enough for eventrying.
You don't need to have it allfigured out.
You don't need to wait for theright time.
You just need a littlewillingness to like believe in
yourself for once in your life.
and show up messy and show upwhen it's hard and to show up
when it's uncomfortable.
(18:55):
And that's what it takes.
That's what it takes to grow.
It is uncomfortable to stepoutside your comfort zone, but
you have to do it.
So here's my challenge for you.
I want you to pick one smallbrave thing that you can do this
week.
Let's do this together.
What's one small thing that youcan do?
Not because you want to proveanything to anyone else.
(19:16):
It's all about you.
Something might be holding youback or stopping yourself from
doing something.
And you just want to try it.
You don't have to be fearless.
You just have to be willing totry.
So what do you say?
I asked you earlier to writedown one thing that you would
love to try to do that would bea little bit outside your
comfort zone.
What are you going to do thissummer?
I want you to do it with me.
(19:37):
I think it would be really fun.
It's something personal.
You don't need to tell anyoneabout it.
Just try to do something alittle bit braver for yourself.
And then I just want you to seehow you feel.
It's really cool when you dosomething brave afterwards.
You're like, oh my gosh, thatwasn't so bad.
And you feel so proud ofyourself.
It's crazy.
So I hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
(19:58):
And if this episode was helpful,I would be so grateful if you
would share it with a friendthrough text, through Instagram,
share it on your stories.
The more women that know aboutthis podcast, the more women
that I can help and that I canreach.
And I just want to help womenfeel good inside themselves and
know that they are worth it.
So I would be so grateful if youwould share this episode.
(20:18):
And another thing, if you couldgo over to iTunes and rate and
review the podcast, it literallytakes two seconds to do I would
be so grateful that helps megrow as well and this podcast is
totally free I don't make anyincome on this it is just
something that I'm superpassionate about and I would
love for it to be something thathelps women each and every day
(20:40):
and the only way I can do thatis if that you share these
podcast episodes or if you goover and rate and review the
podcast I would be so gratefulso I'm going to end this episode
like I do each and every episodewith an affirmation to take you
on your day and And thataffirmation is I am willing to
grow even when it feelsuncomfortable.
(21:00):
So go out there, chase thatcomfort zone, get away from it
and do something brave.
Okay, I hope you have awonderful day and I will see you
on next week's episode.
Hi, I'm Laura Orlando and welcome to the Build
Strong Women podcast.
I believe as women that we arethe role models for the next
generation of girls.
So how do we become the bestrole models for these young
girls?
We work hard to become the bestversion of ourselves, whatever
that means to you.
It's not easy.
It takes work.
It takes learning, trying newthings, falling down and getting
(00:21):
back up again.
But that's what we do on theshow.
We dive deep into how we cangrow on the inside.
We will learn from women thatare on the same journey as us.
Just trying to become the bestversion of themselves.
Let's learn together, build ourconfidence, learn to love who we
are so that we can teach thenext generation of girls to grow
up to be strong and confidentwomen.
(00:43):
Hello everyone and welcome backto another episode of the Build
Strong Women podcast.
Thank you so much for being hereand tuning into this week's
episode.
At the time of this recording,it is finally summer break.
As a teacher, summer just feelslike a complete reset, a
complete refresh for me, and Iabsolutely love it.
So I'm super excited to berecording this episode during
(01:03):
the day.
It just makes me happy to beable to do these kinds of things
during the day and not having towait till nine o'clock at night
when everyone's sleeping in Myhouse is quiet.
I can do it right now.
I'm so excited.
So I'm really excited about thisweek's episode because we are
talking about comfort zones.
And I am going to be doingsomething for myself this
(01:24):
summer.
that is outside of my comfortzone.
And I'll talk about that later,but I really want to talk about
comfort zones and how we need tomake an effort to go outside of
our comfort zones.
Because if we don't, we aregoing to stay in the same place
as we are right now.
So if you don't know, a comfortzone is like this invisible
bubble around us in our dailylife where everything just feels
(01:47):
safe and it feels predictable.
It's that routine that youalready know.
You don't have to make hardchoices.
Everything's just easy aroundyou.
And trust me, Growing up, thatis how I wanted to live.
I wanted to live in my comfortzone.
I never wanted to go outside ofmy comfort zone because I
thought that meant thatsomething was wrong.
There's no risk involved whenyou stay in your comfort zone.
(02:08):
You're just in this safe littlespace.
Now, that bubble isn't a badthing, and I totally get it.
It actually serves a purpose.
It helps us feel this secure andsafe way.
It's not this overwhelmingfeeling.
But when you stay in thatcomfort zone, you kind of just
stay Stay in that bubble.
You never do anything thatscares you.
(02:29):
You never do anything that takesrisk.
You never do anything that helpsyou grow inside.
We kind of just stay stagnant orstuck and we avoid trying new
things.
And we often like talk ourselvesout of trying something new
because we kind of talk toourselves and say, well, what if
I'm not good at that?
Or what if I fail?
Or who am I to even trysomething like that?
(02:50):
That's what we tell ourselves.
And often as moms and women, wejust push that aside and we just
say, you know what?
It's fine.
It doesn't matter.
I'm not going to try this.
And even though inside we reallywant to do it and we just push
our feelings down, we push ourwants and our needs and we push
the things that we really wantto do in life down because we're
(03:11):
busy taking care of everyoneelse.
We have careers.
We're mothers.
We have relationships in ourlives.
And it's easy to just stay inthat comfort zone bubble and
forget that we are supposed tostretch.
We are supposed to grow.
And If we stay in the same spaceand we don't listen to those
little whispers inside ofourselves that we want to do
(03:33):
something new or we want to trysomething, we just stay stuck.
And why do we stay stuck in thisplace?
Because stepping outside ourcomfort zone is scary, period.
It brings up fears.
It brings up fear of judgmentfrom others.
We fear falling down.
We fear failing.
We fear looking weird in frontof other people or not being
good at something when we tryit.
(03:54):
And sometimes fear is actuallyactually wanting more and not
knowing how to do it and let'sbe real when we're already tired
and we have so many things onour plate and our confidence
feels less than it's easier tojust stay in our comfort zone
and do what we already know thanto do something different to go
(04:14):
off the deep end to rock theboat it's easier to just to stay
stuck but here's the truth noone talks about this enough
staying in your comfort zonedoesn't make your life easier in
the long run.
It makes it a lot smaller.
So I want you to pictureyourself 50 years from now,
depending on how old you are,and you're lying in your bed and
(04:36):
it's your time to go.
And you think to yourself, youknow what?
What am I really proud of that Idid in my life?
What am I really proud of?
Yes, you're proud of your familyand everything you did, but just
think about you for one second.
You don't want to get anotheryear older.
You don't want to be on that bedthinking, you know what?
I wish I would have tried that.
What would have happened?
(04:57):
Maybe something amazing wouldhappen.
Maybe something not amazinghappens.
You'll just never know becauseyou never took the risk to do
something outside of yourcomfort zone.
You don't want to be anotheryear older.
You don't want to be a decadeolder.
You don't want to get to the endof your life and regret not
going for something that is inyour heart.
You will always wonder what if.
(05:19):
And to me, that is a form ofabsolute torture to get to the
end of your life and think whatif I would have tried that I
wonder what would have happenedabsolutely not I don't want you
to live that way I want you totake risks what would happen if
you would have said yes to anopportunity what would have
happened if you started thatbusiness or that side hustle or
just something that you'recurious about and I'm not going
(05:41):
to say that you're going to loveeverything that you try but how
would your life be different Ilistened to a podcast and she
interviewed someone who would goand visit the dying and the
number one thing that they saidis the regret of not trying
something because they justplayed it safe.
And that's what I don't want youto do.
I know this is sounding a littlemorbid, but I'm telling you, you
(06:02):
have to go outside your comfortzone.
You have to push yourself even alittle bit because what's
waiting for you on the otherside is your growth, is
opportunity, is somethingliterally amazing.
You start to really build yourconfidence when you start
stepping outside of your comfortzone and you start doing the
things that you said you woulddo.
You said start keeping thosepromises to yourself because
(06:25):
you're stretching yourself andyou're not going to be perfect
you're going to fall down andit's not going to feel good but
that's okay what I tell my kidsall the time is that you have to
get comfortable with thatuncomfortable feeling of going
outside your comfort zone whenmy kids have to do something for
school or stand up in front oftheir class and speak or
whatever it is things that I doin my own life you have to be
(06:47):
okay and you have to know thatthat uncomfortable feeling is
going to happen it doesn't meanyou're doing It doesn't mean
that you should turn around.
Yes, in certain circumstances,of course, that's what it means.
But in things like that, youhave to tell yourself, okay, I'm
going to get uncomfortable andit's okay.
It's normal.
You have to get comfortable withbeing uncomfortable.
(07:08):
And when you start doing this,you're going to see that you're
going to start trusting yourselfa little more.
You're going to show everyonearound you that look what I can
do.
I can do hard things.
I can try.
I can grow.
And guess what?
It's not going to be perfect.
It's not going to be easy.
But that's not what it's allabout.
You are going to show everyonearound you that you can do hard
(07:31):
things.
And they don't want to see youdoing something perfectly.
They just want to see youtrying.
I think it's more inspirationaland motivational when I see
someone trying something even ifthey stink at it.
I think it's really, really coolbecause they faced their fear
and they took the next bravestep.
Okay, so now let's get into howdo we actually start stepping
(07:52):
outside of our comfort zone andtake the next brave step for us
in our life.
And I want you to know thateverybody's comfort zone is
different.
For me, some things in mycomfort zone, you would think
I'm absolutely crazy because youYou think it's just easy and you
love doing those kinds ofthings.
Absolutely not.
Everyone's comfort zone isdifferent.
So there's no like judging onanyone's comfort zone or you
(08:14):
don't need to compare yourcomfort zone to anyone else's
because you might be veryoutgoing and love to public
speak and all those kinds ofthings.
And someone else might beabsolutely terrified hiding in
the corner when they have to aska question or answer a question
or anything like that.
So you have to understand thateveryone's comfort zone is
different.
So the first thing I want you todo is I want you to acknowledge
(08:36):
where your comfort zone is atwhat is an area in your life
that feels really small rightnow or where do you feel you
have an itch for something moreor what is something that you
dream about or a better questionis what is something that you're
really curious about I am supercurious about learning how to do
pickleball I know this isn'tlike something outside my
comfort zone but I'm likecurious about it I want to try
(08:58):
it I want to see if I would likeit maybe it would be something
that I would love to do I willnever know unless I try so you
have to think think in alldifferent areas of your life.
It could be through yourcreativity, your friendships,
your health, or your big, mostwildest dreams.
I want you to acknowledgesomething that you are a little
(09:18):
curious about or you reallydream big about deep inside
yourself.
Maybe no one else even knowsthat you are thinking about this
and you are almost a littleafraid to tell anyone.
The next thing I want you to dois I want you to understand that
it's going to be a little scaryto even think about.
You You have to be okay withthat nervous feeling.
You're going to have to acceptthe fear.
(09:40):
It doesn't mean that you're notready.
It just means that you are ahuman.
You are a human being and fearis just a sign that you're just
right there on the edge ofgrowing.
And you're not going to get ridof that fear at all either.
when you even try this activityor you try to do something new.
(10:00):
You're not going to get rid ofthat fear.
That fear is going to be withyou.
You're going to feel a littleuncomfortable.
You have to just take that fearand that uncomfortable feeling
with you.
If you step outside your comfortzone, it's going to be
uncomfortable.
It doesn't mean that you'redoing something wrong or bad or
it's not for you.
And that's what I took with mefor years and years and years in
(10:21):
my life.
When I felt a littleuncomfortable, I just felt like,
oh my gosh, this isn't for methis isn't what I'm supposed to
be doing I never tried out forany team when I was younger
because I just felt like I'm notgood enough and I didn't
understand that if I kept goingI could learn and I just had
that uncomfortable feeling andI'm like oh this must not be for
me so you have to understandthat you are going to have fear
(10:44):
and you're going to feeluncomfortable and that is
totally normal Okay, the nextthing I want you to do is I want
you to take action.
I want you to write down the onething that you wanna do that's
gonna help you step outside ofyour comfort zone.
What's something that you'recurious about?
What's something that you thinkabout all the time?
And I want you to take action onit, but I don't want you to go
(11:05):
in 150%.
We're not gonna go from zero to100 and dive in deep, especially
if you're not used to doingthings outside of your comfort
zone, okay?
So say that you want to run amarathon.
That is your dream.
I want to run a marathon or evenif it's a 5k, I want to do
something like that.
(11:25):
I want you to go to the Bversion or even the C version of
that and that just might betaking a walk around your
neighborhood.
That might be going to thepeninsula or somewhere that you
live at a park and you're goingto walk the trails there.
I want you to Sign up for that Bor C version.
(11:46):
I don't want you to go signingup for a marathon when you
haven't even taken a walk aroundyour own neighborhood, okay?
The point is to move, to not beperfect at it, Yes, eventually
you want to run that marathon.
That's completely amazing andtotally awesome.
But I want you to start really,really small, okay?
So if your dream is to run amarathon, take the first step,
(12:08):
get on your shoes and go outsideand walk.
And then I want you to startrunning and then you can go from
there, okay?
So it's just about taking onesmall step.
You have to take action.
You can't sit on your couch andsay, I want to start a business
or I want to start a side hustleand and just sit on your couch
and daydream all the time.
It doesn't work like that.
Trust me, I love daydreaming.
(12:29):
I love Pinterest.
I love like thinking of all theideas, but you have to take
action.
That happened to me every momentin this business and starting my
podcast and showing up on socialmedia.
It's just, I'm not, this isn'tcomfortable for me.
I have to go outside my comfortzone to come on this microphone
and talk to you right now.
It's uncomfortable.
(12:50):
I don't think I know everything.
I absolutely do not.
I'm not an expert by any means.
I never went to school for this.
It's just something that I'mreally passionate about and it's
something that I want to do.
I want to do this in my life.
I want to help women and I can'tdo that if I'm sitting on my
couch watching TV.
I have to take action.
I have to do the BNC version atfirst and then I can go all in
(13:13):
and that's what I want you todo.
So think of one thing that youcould do that's going to help
you step outside your comfortzone this summer.
So in the spring when I wasteaching and I had a couple
moments alone by myself, I wasjust thinking about, okay, what
are some like mini comfort zonethings that I could try and get
myself to do?
Because I can stay stuck in thisreally comfortable place.
(13:37):
Because right now, I amcomfortable behind the
microphone.
But if I was like on video and Iwas trying to do this live on
Instagram or YouTube orsomething like that, I would be
absolutely terrified.
Okay, that is something that'scompletely outside my comfort
zone.
And now that I'm talking aboutit, saying this It's probably
something I should do with mypodcast is put it on video.
(13:57):
But right now, I'm comfortablebecause I'm behind the
microphone.
I have my computer right here.
I literally have no makeup on inmy pajamas, and I am just
talking to you like you're oneof my friends.
And so I was thinking, okay, Ineed to push myself outside my
comfort zone this summer.
I'm not going to stay in thisreally comfy place this summer.
Last summer, I was not in a goodplace.
(14:19):
Like I said, I did this...
promise challenge for myselflast summer, where I'm going to
keep a promise to myself andactually follow through on it.
And it literally changed mylife.
And that's why I created thesummer promise challenge for
this summer.
And I wanted to do somethingsimilar to that.
So I'm not just staying stuck inthe summer because I do love
(14:40):
summer as a teacher.
It's relaxing.
It's fun.
It's a reset for me.
But at the same time, I can getin a Not so good a place because
I'm not following through on thethings that I want to do.
And sometimes I think I need topush myself outside my comfort
zone to really get me motivatedand to take the leap on
something new.
So I was brainstorming all theselittle things that I could do
(15:03):
for myself that are like littlemini comfort zone challenges
that I could try.
So I want you to do the samething for you.
I wrote a list and I'm going tobe sharing about it on
Instagram.
I'm actually starting this weekof little things to push myself
outside my comfort zone.
And you might think some of mythings are actually a little
crazy, but I want to do this formyself.
(15:25):
And You might think that thesearen't going outside of your
comfort zone at all, but maybesome of them of my ideas you're
going to actually like andyou're going to try as well.
So some of the things that Iwrote down, I'm not going to
share all of them, but some ofthe little things that I wrote
down are one of them is I wantto read a fiction book.
I am obsessed with nonfictionbooks and learning and growing.
(15:46):
And what can I do next to be thebetter version of myself?
And I never take the time tojust like relax and just relax.
Just be.
So one of my goals is to read afiction book this summer.
So that's what I'm going to do.
It's completely outside mycomfort zone.
I know the entire time I mightbe thinking like, oh my gosh,
this is such a waste of time,but it's something that's going
(16:06):
to push me outside my comfortzone.
I also want to take a hike inthe woods with my husband.
I want to go live on Instagram.
That is very scary for me to beon video.
I'm going to try to go makeupfree for an entire week.
I feel like sometimes I hidebehind my makeup like I can't go
do I can't do this.
I can't do that because I don'thave my makeup on or done.
(16:27):
I can't be on video.
I want to go makeup free for awhole entire week and just be
free, not even think about it orcare.
The next thing I want to do is Iwant to run a mile without
stopping.
Okay, you might be laughingright now, especially if you're
a runner, but I...
I don't know what it is.
There's a certain point in myrun where I just like stop.
(16:47):
I'm like, okay, I just have towalk a little bit.
I don't think I can do this.
I want to run a whole milewithout stopping.
And then my son's in thebasement right now running three
miles on the treadmill like it'snothing.
Another thing that I want to dois I want to reach out for
possible collaborations with mybusiness and sending those scary
(17:07):
emails to people that I want tocollaborate with.
And yes, it's superuncomfortable and things like
that.
but I really wanna do that.
Another thing I wanna do is Iwanna write a lot of words for
my book this summer.
My goal is to write 40,000 wordsfor my book.
We'll see if that happens.
But it's something that's reallygoing to push me outside my
comfort zone because I know Ican be like, nope, I'm going to
(17:29):
do this instead.
I'm not going to write my bookbecause that's something that's
so in the future.
But I really want to take thetime to do that.
And it's going to get me alittle uncomfortable because I'm
going to push myself to do it.
So I have a lot of other thingsI'm going to try this summer
that's really going to help mestep outside of my comfort zone.
And I hope that you'll followalong with me over on Instagram.
(17:49):
It's going to be fun.
And I'm going to take you alongthe way.
It's not something that I'mgoing to put out for everyone.
Like if you want to try thischallenge, it's really for me,
but I would love for anyone thatwants to do some comfort zone
things too.
Maybe we can do this togetherbecause it is uncomfortable to
do things that you think are alittle scarier out there.
And I know that it just helps usgrow and to learn and just to be
(18:14):
a better version of ourselves.
And you are so much braver thanyou give yourself credit for.
Bravery is not this like loud,flashy thing.
And that's what I'm not tryingto do on Instagram.
I'm actually really doing thisfor myself.
I'm like, I want to do thesethings to help me grow inside.
Being brave is actually quietand steady.
(18:34):
And it shows up in those tinylittle moments where we tell
ourselves we're enough for eventrying.
You don't need to have it allfigured out.
You don't need to wait for theright time.
You just need a littlewillingness to like believe in
yourself for once in your life.
and show up messy and show upwhen it's hard and to show up
when it's uncomfortable.
(18:55):
And that's what it takes.
That's what it takes to grow.
It is uncomfortable to stepoutside your comfort zone, but
you have to do it.
So here's my challenge for you.
I want you to pick one smallbrave thing that you can do this
week.
Let's do this together.
What's one small thing that youcan do?
Not because you want to proveanything to anyone else.
(19:16):
It's all about you.
Something might be holding youback or stopping yourself from
doing something.
And you just want to try it.
You don't have to be fearless.
You just have to be willing totry.
So what do you say?
I asked you earlier to writedown one thing that you would
love to try to do that would bea little bit outside your
comfort zone.
What are you going to do thissummer?
I want you to do it with me.
(19:37):
I think it would be really fun.
It's something personal.
You don't need to tell anyoneabout it.
Just try to do something alittle bit braver for yourself.
And then I just want you to seehow you feel.
It's really cool when you dosomething brave afterwards.
You're like, oh my gosh, thatwasn't so bad.
And you feel so proud ofyourself.
It's crazy.
So I hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
(19:58):
And if this episode was helpful,I would be so grateful if you
would share it with a friendthrough text, through Instagram,
share it on your stories.
The more women that know aboutthis podcast, the more women
that I can help and that I canreach.
And I just want to help womenfeel good inside themselves and
know that they are worth it.
So I would be so grateful if youwould share this episode.
(20:18):
And another thing, if you couldgo over to iTunes and rate and
review the podcast, it literallytakes two seconds to do I would
be so grateful that helps megrow as well and this podcast is
totally free I don't make anyincome on this it is just
something that I'm superpassionate about and I would
love for it to be something thathelps women each and every day
(20:40):
and the only way I can do thatis if that you share these
podcast episodes or if you goover and rate and review the
podcast I would be so gratefulso I'm going to end this episode
like I do each and every episodewith an affirmation to take you
on your day and And thataffirmation is I am willing to
grow even when it feelsuncomfortable.
(21:00):
So go out there, chase thatcomfort zone, get away from it
and do something brave.
Okay, I hope you have awonderful day and I will see you
on next week's episode.
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