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Hi, I'm Jasmine Nicole. Welcome to the Motivational Mystic, a space for authentic higher conscious conversations to motivate, inspire, and empower. Thanks for listening. Each week, I'll drop a new conscious raising episode. Let's dive in. Hello everyone. When I started this podcast, I set a goal to reach 100 downloads by my 20th episode. And I'm proud to say that as I'm recording this 20th episode, I've actually surpassed that goal. And I feel immense gratitude for the support that I've been getting for people continuing to listen. And I'm very grateful. So thank you. Today I want to talk about stepping out of your comfort zone. It's good to expand your horizons, get out of your comfort zone, or change your environment because it forces you to evolve. It forces you to acclimate to the new environment and broaden your perspective and even broaden your personality because showing up to different places requires different aspects of yourself. You're not going to act the same way at a party or a concert that you would act at your job or at a house of worship, for example. We're all multifaceted people, so stepping into different environments sometimes requires a different aspect of yourself. It requires you to put forth a specific energy based on the scenario you find yourself in. Don't be afraid to evolve, to change, to adapt, to life circumstances, especially when you're in a transitory period in your life, because that is just a period of growth. And with that period of growth comes a lot of change. How you deal with that change really shapes your outlook on things and builds character. I think in life, we are meant to test ourselves, we're meant to challenge ourselves and rise to the occasion to see what we're really made of. To see what we're really capable of. Because if you're someone that lives life on easy move or you prefer to live in a safety bubble, it's like you're living life on cruise control. You're not really taking the wheel to navigate and control the direction of your life and taking the opportunity to manifest the life that you want. You're just sort of letting life happen to you and reacting to it. And I know I've spoken about this notion a few times on this podcast, but it's true. Everyone has their own purpose. I don't think we're born here just to exist. Whether a person chooses to tap into it and pursue that purpose is a different story, but we all do have a divine purpose. To uncover that purpose, it will require you to break out of self-imposed limitations. Challenging yourself, navigating life changes, growing and evolving with life will require you to stretch out of your comfort zone. Because life is going to test you. That's just a part of the game. There's peaks, valleys, highs, lows, new levels, new devils, and it's all a part of the experience. But how you choose to control your personal avatar, which is you in this game of life, is up to the individual. It's up to you. I know with me, as I'm evolving and wanting to attract more, manifest more, accomplish more, it's putting me in a position where I need to stretch, grow, get out of that comfort zone to see what I can really achieve and what's on the other side of comfort. Which can be scary because on the other side of comfort is the unknown. There's a lot of potential unknowns outside of the comfort zone. It's comforting to be in the comfort zone because you're totally aware of your surroundings and possibly even in control of them. But when you're stepping out of your comfort zone, that is where you get into a space of the unknown. I have an episode called Surrender to the Unknown, talking about being in an unknown period in your life and just surrendering to it. Saying what lessons you need to learn from it and also how you apply those lessons to yourself once you get out of that unknown period, which is essentially you choosing to step out of your comfort zone. When you are stepping out of your comfort zone, when you're expanding, don't be afraid to take risk. Because the comfort zone is just you continuing to do things that are already common and second nature to you. But with growth, with change, with evolution, comes a level of uncertainty and the need to take risk, despite not knowing how it will work out. You can start small by implementing new things into your daily life and increments. For example, if you are a silent, soft-spoken, quiet person, maybe challenging yourself to go speak to a new person you encounter throughout your day. Do something that is the opposite of your comfort zone and just start small. I find it hard to believe we're supposed to play it safe. Because playing it safe, what does that really accomplish? You may be comfortable, but are you happy? Are you fulfilled? You may have desires and goals you want to accomplish, but if you're stuck in your comfort zone, it can make it harder to achieve them. I started looking at it like this. By the time I'm retired, I want to look back on my life and enjoy having good memories of my accomplishments, my family, good people, good experiences, and the lessons that I learned along the way. For me personally, I had a really good example of someone who was like that in my life. My grandfather. My grandfather Robert lived a very long life, passing away at the age of ninety-two. The last couple of years up until his death, I would just walk into his house, and he was battling with dementia at the time, but I would just see him sitting there with a big smile on his face, and I would say to him, What are you smiling at, old man? And he would respond back. I had a really good life, and I'm enjoying all of the memories I can remember each day. I was really in awe of him, because if any of you listening out there has ever known someone with dementia, sometimes a person can go in and out of coherency. Some days they may be lost and confused, and other days they may act like their old self again. So those days I would see him with the brightest smile on his face and ask him about what he was remembering was very inspiring to me. I aspire to grow into a person that becomes old and wise, like he was. When I'm at the point in my life sitting back in my rocking chair, I want to have beautiful memories that I created throughout the course of my life to look back on. To not have any regrets on what I could have done, should have done, or didn't do, because I'm going to take full advantage of the opportunities I have now and not stick to what's comfortable or what feels familiar. My grandfather took a lot of risk in his life that I learned through him telling me his stories, and that taught me a valuable lesson of not playing it safe. No risk, no reward is a sentiment he would echo frequently. When you have the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone, to do something that challenges you, it might incite a little bit of fear inside of you. Don't back down from that feeling. That is the time more than ever that you want to step up and rise to the occasion and see what that challenge, that opportunity, is meant to teach you and what you're meant to learn from it. We will all have those periods in our lives where you're going to be tested, where you're going to be challenged, where you're even going to be uncertain and confused. However, within all those scenarios, it may force you to stretch out of your comfort zone. Are you going to have the ability and agility to do it? Is the question. Are you going to have the wherewithal, work ethic, or motivation to do it? It's one thing to want to step out of your comfort zone, but it's another thing to actually put in the energy and effort to actually accomplish it. So, we want to make sure you're mirroring what you have in your mind as a dream, goal, or an aspiration, and then matching that with some actual momentum, some energy, some motivation to get it done. I mentioned in a previous episode, I believe it was episode one, Are You Showing Up for Yourself, the importance of meeting the universe halfway. As long as you're putting in the time, intention, and momentum behind something you want to achieve, the universe will meet you halfway to make it happen, to manifest it for you, to co-create with you. Again, it's one thing to have the idea in mind, it's another thing to put the energy behind it so you're giving the universe something to work with. Success is not going to magically fall into your lap. You have to actually put forth the effort to make it happen. And that takes discipline. Stepping out of your comfort zone takes discipline. When you have a disciplined person and they have something they want to achieve, there's really nothing that's getting in their way. They know what they want, they will figure out how to make it happen, and anything else that gets in their way is just a distraction. So discipline is really a foundational pillar for stepping out of your comfort zone. It's easy to stay in a place that's comfortable. It's harder to step out of your comfort zone and into the unknown. So with that, it does require a level of discipline to make the decision. You put the energy behind it and you see it through. Stick to it. Make it happen. How do you know what you're really capable of if you don't step out of your comfort zone? The comfort zone is already known. You already know what to expect from it. To me, it just seems like such a limiting life experience if you play it safe and stay in your comfort zone. Like I mentioned before, we're all multifaceted people. There's many variations of ourselves that all of us embody each day, depending on the scenario we find ourselves in. We're always adapting, we're always acclimating to whatever environment we find ourselves in. So stepping out of your comfort zone is just another layer of that, which is to acclimate to a new level that you want to rise to. Acclimating to it, and eventually you don't have to acclimate anymore. It just becomes a part of who you are. Once that happens, you'll look back and start to ponder if that old comfort zone that you were hanging on to, was it really comfort or was it bondage? Did you give up on yourself and just say, hey, this is the best it's going to get? And you came to the acceptance of it, and that's what it was. So, I think stepping out of your comfort zone is one of those fundamental practices that we all get challenged to do. But how many of us actually take on that challenge? Most people shy away from it for fear of failure or being satisfied with just having enough to get by. You never fully have what you need, but you just have enough to get by. And I feel like being in a comfort zone is symbolic of that. You're comfortable because you just have enough. It may not be all that you want or all that you feel you deserve, but you settle for just having enough. You settle for staying in the comfort zone. So take a risk and see what's on the other side of comfort. Don't be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone. Well, that's all I had for today, everyone. Until next time, goodbye.