The Best Place to Be? Outside of Your Comfort Zone

As I mentioned before, I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge where I am expected to post a blog entry every day of the 31 days in January. I find that to be the most effective way for me to move forward in much of what I do. Who doesn’t like a good challenge, am I right? I not only accept them as assignments to move forward, but I like to use them to spur people toward their healthy lifestyle goals. Today I’ll share what I do for fun in my life and my business to challenge either myself or my clients.

In my business, I like to challenge my clients to do something that moves them ahead in their pursuit of good health. Sometimes it has nothing to do with what they eat, how they exercise or how much sleep they get. Sometimes it’s to empower them to do something they don’t expect of themselves…step outside their comfort zone and do something scary.

Yes You Can…How I Challenge My Clients

I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, “I could never do what you do/did.” Of course, I thought the same thing until I realized I didn’t have a choice if I was going to stay alive. You don’t know how strong you can be until the alternative to being that strong is detrimental to your health and ultimately, your life. So I challenge anyone who is reading this entry to do something today, however small, that is uncomfortable and a little scary.

• If you are an introvert, start up a conversation with a stranger.
• Try a new recipe with ingredients you never used before.
• Do a Facebook live video about what you are up to today. It doesn’t have to be a long one, just a minute or two. That was my scary monster a few weeks ago and now, I can do it with much more ease than when I started.

When you do something outside your comfort zone, you realize you can do what I do/did. And your comfort zone expands.

Yes I Can…How I Challenge Me

In my personal life, I love a good game of Trivial Pursuit. My sister once told me that I have an incredible memory for meaningless facts and I believe she’s right. I can pull the answers out of the deep recesses of my mind and I have no idea how they got there. I also might be a little competitive in that area. You should watch Jeopardy with me.

Me after taking control of my health

In 2014, I hiked the Grand Canyon with my four siblings, a couple of in-laws and nephews. It was physically one of the most challenging things I have ever done. But it showed me that fear is something to acknowledge and move on from. Put it in the backseat and keep driving forward.

75 Hard

Recently, I decided to do the 75 Hard Challenge. For 75 days, you have a series of tasks you must complete every day before you go to sleep that night. If you don’t complete even one of them on any given day, you must start again. Each day you must:

• drink one gallon of water daily
• exercise 45 continuous minutes twice daily with a few hours in between each session
• follow a healthy food plan with no cheat meals at all
• no alcohol at all
• take a daily progress picture in your workout clothes with as little on top as possible (men no shirt, women in a sports bra)
• read at least ten pages daily of a self improvement book

This program has had a lot of clap back from various experts. The lack of specificity in the assignments is one of the issues.

For me this program was something that provided measurable daily tasks that were readily achievable while still being challenging. I already followed a healthy diet but cheat occasionally.  Alcohol abstinence began in 2009 and I never drink. I drink lots of water so it was a relatively small increment to get to a gallon. I was often challenged to remember to take the daily selfie. I’m not a selfie kind of girl so that isn’t top of mind for me. I am often too tired to read before bed so I had to do the reading during the day.

When I completed the program, I continued to do the twice daily exercise for some time. I did fall off the exercise wagon sometime in November. Now my January goal is to start 75 Hard again, if only for the exercise. If I hold myself accountable for the whole program, so much the better.

Conclusion

Find a way to challenge yourself and move from your comfort zone. You might surprise yourself and your comfort zone will expand.

I help women living with or at risk for developing heart disease or other chronic illness that we can manage through lifestyle and nutrition changes. Have you been told that you are on the verge of developing heart disease, or diabetes, or another lifestyle related condition? If so, let’s chat. For a free consultation with me, click here.