Outside the Comfort Zone

 

   I'm someone who likes to stay in her comfort zone. It's an inherited trait I'm sure, my Dad had one radio engineering job his entire life. He stayed at the same station for 50 years before he retired.

   The past several years I have pondered my inclination toward familiarity. It's not a bad trait, but I do need to make an effort to do different things once in awhile. Today I'm going to write about some things I've done (or would like to do) to get out of my comfort zone.

   The other day I had lunch with my friend, Wendy. We went to a popular soup and sandwich place near her home. While I was waiting for her I studied the menu. Usually I order the same soup and sandwich combo. Today was the day I was going to try something different. There was a pumpkin soup on the menu. I was going to try it. I've never eaten pumpkin soup before. I've had pumpkin bread, muffins, donuts and smoothies. I've had pumpkin spice steamers. I have even had buffalo meat cooked inside a pumpkin. It was time to try some soup.

   The soup had chorizo in it.  I like chorizo. I paired it with a cranberry turkey sandwich just in case I didn't like the soup. When we sat down to eat I tried the soup first. (I don't like cold soup,unless it is gazpacho). It was wonderful. I loved it. The chorizo had the right amount of spice. It wasn't heavy. It went well with the sandwich. It was a good lunch and even better because I spent time with Wendy.

   Several years ago when I was working at my dream job, I noticed that my coworkers liked to wear leggings when they were not at work. (At work everyone but me wore scrubs.) They looked pretty comfortable, but I was nervous about wearing them. I worried that wearing them would make me look too pear shaped. I also thought they'd be too tight and uncomfortable. My coworkers kept telling me that I would try them and I eventually bought a pair. I was pleasantly surprised. They were very comfortable. I like to wear long loose tops with them. Mostly I wear leggings around the house and when we are travelling. I'm glad I finally tried them. 

   When I eat Asian food I like to order dishes with tofu. There are times when I want protein, but don't really want meat. The fried tofu chunks have a texture that I really like. One of the recipe websites I like sends me recipes one a week. One week they had a recipe for a peanut tofu stir fry. I'm going to try to make it. They have directions for how to fry the tofu so it is like the kind I eat in restaurants. I'm looking forward to making that on a day off. (Once I get some tofu.)

   Last summer I bought a book at an art fair. The author was a young woman and this was her first book. She had self published it and was selling her work at the fair. Normally I don't buy books from authors I don't already know. I wanted to support her as it's always a good thing to see a young woman pursuing a long held dream. It was a trade paperback so it wasn't too expensive. I've been reading it the past few weeks. It's really good. I sometimes have trouble putting it down.

   I know most of these things seem pretty small, but small steps are all I can do right now. At least I'm doing something. Who knows where all these small steps will lead? Maybe something really cool......