Out of the Comfort Zone, Into the Fire

So, I'm 25 years old, 4 months out of college and in the midst of a pandemic I have been asking myself for the past several months, "Now what?"

Now, it's been non-stop applications for jobs, long days of staying upstairs in my domain of living with my four cats (yes, I have four cats), and literally sitting in my bed either playing video games, watching YouTube on my TV, or staring at nothing. Believe me, there were a lot of days of staring at nothing.

The first few applications gave me the sense of accomplishment. But submitting in more, plus not hearing back from anyone, it started first as "Okay, well, let's just put in some more". The thing is, it went from hopeful thinking, to sadness and depression, and then it went to frustration. It's when I got to the frustration phase of job searching that I had to realize something, "This is getting me nowhere". I knew that if something was not going to happen, my frustration was going to turn into anger.

Now, when I graduated, my mom told me that I should write everyday. Because she knows about my huge dream and goal to become a famous writer. So, I would write little prompts that I found through Pinterest and things seemed to be fine, then the writer's block hit. And it hit hard.

As time went on, I thought at first it was because of the current time we are in. It's a pandemic, times are weird. But, should that really stop me? I could write my stories, but what would I do with them? Then I realized what it really was: I was scared.

It's scary getting out there in the world, especially with everything going on right now. But, getting my writing out there, the thought of it gives me anxiety. That's because what I write, people will have their thoughts on it, some will like it, some won't. That type of negativity will leave me vulnerable.

But, one thing kept popping in my head. It's a phrase that everyone has told me for nearly my entire life, "Get out of your comfort zone,". I can't begin to tell you how many times I would think about getting writing platform accounts, or about how many times people have told me to get my writing out there by starting a blog. I even thought about doing a podcast. But I wouldn't because I was too scared, I wanted to stay in my comfort zone, where nothing or nobody could hurt me.

The problem was, that was just like the job searching, it was getting me nowhere. I was tired of doing nothing. So, I finally decided to do something, and what you are reading is that something.

I never actually thought that I would create a writing account, especially one like this. I was close to backing out, thinking to myself, "I'll come back to it later," by later it would be never. I'm 25 years old, 4 months out of college, and if there was one thing I knew was that I needed to start getting out into the world. That was when I clicked "Join".

Creating this Vocal account has become a huge step for me more than anyone could possibly realize. This Vocal account, this story, this is me getting out of my comfort zone. This is me setting my foot into that fire that will blaze with victory.

The saying is "out of the frying pan and into the fire," but for me, it's "out of the comfort zone and into the fire".