Grateful #33 - The end of your comfort zone

Occasionally, I get stuck on Pinterest.  After I look at all the Do –It-Yourself projects that I can never do by myself, I tend to browse the quotes for some inspiration.  Tonight, I came across this picture of a girl jumping off of a cliff into a lake – arms wide open.  The quote read: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.  The picture was almost identical to a picture of 22 year-old me jumping off of a cliff into a lake – arms wide open. 

I think about that day, back in Ithaca – I remember hiking out there with my friends, climbing up a huge embankment and pulling myself up a rope to reach the spot where everyone jumps – it was a cliff that jutted out maybe 2 feet from the embankment, which is not a lot of clearance room, especially since it’s a 30 foot drop.  My 3 friends jumped before I did - each one of them came back up, bobbing in the water, exhilarated.  I danced around the edge, and then I hurled myself into the air – arms wide open.   You're only in the air for a few seconds, but it feels like you're never going to hit the water - and all forethought about how you should positions your legs, or how you should hold your arms - it doesn't even matter.  At 9.8m/s/s all you can do is scream and ride it out.   Free-falling should be named in reverse.  It should be called falling-free.  Because that's how you feel.  Free.  

I am grateful for opportunities I've taken to break away from the routines, the average, the safe, the usual, the status quo, the normalcy – and hurl myself over any fear and past my comfort zone.  While jumping off of a cliff is a literal interpreation, there are many things that take you to the edge of your comfort zone -  it could be starting a new job, being in large social situations, dealing with loss, or learning something new.  

Maybe it's not that life begins at the end of your comfort zone, but that you grow into your life at the end of your comfort zone.  Because you're always living your life; you just may not feel it until you hit a growth spurt.