Go Live Your Story is a travel blog that offers you destination inspiration, travel tips, tricks and gear, all while attempting to push you ever-so-slightly outside of your comfort zone. I’m talking teeny-tiny steps here, no one is asking you to jump out of an airplane.
I enjoy my comfort bubble. I like being comfortable (leggings are my daily uniform!). I don’t like feeling anxiety or being nervous or scared about something that is supposed to be fun. But the more I travel, the more adventurous I become and the more my comfort zone expands without me even realizing it.
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I’m not base jumping. I probably would never go bungee jumping or sky diving. We all have our limits. But I have jumped off a (small) cliff into a waterfall. I cut my chin and lost my GoPro doing it though.
I have flown in a helicopter twice and loved the experience. However, only while looking through my camera lens. When I put the camera down, my heart started to beat faster and I was obsessed with whether the door was securely locked.
I have zip lined several times. But each time that first step off the platform makes me feel like I’m about to plummet to my death.
I have white water rafted. But I was terrified that myself or someone else in our boat would fall out and I would have to get myself, or them, back into the boat. I would fail at that task.
Related: Expand Your Comfort Zone in Costa Rica
I’ve hiked, A LOT! And I hate hiking. Breathing is a struggle for me while hiking (especially at the high altitudes of Peru) and I usually cry, complain, laugh and apologize while hiking (sorry again to those I have tortured on said hikes). But it is true what they say, it’s worth the climb (alright, it’s worth the climb like 80 percent of the time, sometimes you’re just done walking and don’t care about the view anymore. That’s ok too!).
Hiking in the Faroe Islands; Courtesy of Jeff Bartlett
I say all of these things to make others understand that moving outside of your comfort zone isn’t comfortable! That’s the whole point. Despite all of those in-the-moment fears, anxieties or tears, I would go back and do any of those things again in a feared-filled heartbeat. After completing all of those adventures I experienced a high like no other. You’ve done something that you don’t do in your every day life. You now have a cool ass story to tell (an even better one if you struggled along the way). You did the thing, in the place. You experienced. Experiencing something opens your mind, body and soul to so many possibilities.
Working as a full time travel editor for a family travel website, I went on many trips and got to experience a ton of cool things. Those experiences quickly changed the “way” I will forever travel going forward. For one, I want to travel, not vacation. There’s a difference! When you travel you actually experience a place. You do the thing, in the place. You do the thing that scares you but you gotta do it because, well, when in Rome! I want the same for my Go Live Your Story community.
I created Go Live Your Story so others could also understand the importance of travel in the larger sense. Travel equals growth. By seeing and doing, you become a better version of yourself. By trying a new food, a new destination, or by taking a tiny step off the zip line platform or a big jump off the cliff, you move ever-so-slightly outside of your comfort zone and add an inch of growth to the best version of yourself.
Take a tiny step today and Go Live Your Story!
Related: My Career Story
