The "Comfort Zone" Hotel

Our “Comfort Zone" is very cozy place, isn’t it? The walls are filled with wooden picture frames with the words no worries, be happy. Better known as ‘Hakuna Matata,’ the Swahili saying in popular culture made famous by the song from the movie, The Lion King.

Your comfort zone can be a very cozy place, but it can also be a safe place. So safe that you get comfortable and over time it feels like home. Your bags have been unpacked, clothes folded nicely in the cedar dresser drawers provided. You’ve taken all your toiletries out of your make up bag and your favorite heels are lined up along the dusty closet floor. You have in fact, “checked in” to the Comfort Zone Hotel. We’ve all checked in to this hotel at one point or another. How often and how long we stay is solely up to the individual.

For me, the longer I stayed ordering room service each morning instead of walking down to the lobby to eat breakfast, the more I felt stuck. Stuck in a rut, a pit, a funk, you know the words. I’m sure as you read this your own word comes to mind confirming you that you yourself have “checked in.”

One day, as sure as the sun will rise you will wake up and realize your quick weekend getaway has turned into an extended stay. Instead of hearing ‘Hakuna Matata’ in your head and singing the Lion King song you’re rockin’ out and screaming the words to ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’

If I could share one thing with you, I would share with you this: YOUR LIFE BEGINS WHEN YOU LIVE OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

Once you step outside that hotel room and do the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the unenviable…..the things you never thought were possible become a reality. It is there when your life will begin.

I will share with you some wise words from my father. We heard it over and over growing up, just ask my siblings. We heard the words so much that we’d mimic him behind his back with, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” Then we’d start laughing. As I write this, I clearly remember the teenage eye-rolling and sarcasm in our snide remarks. Under our breath of course (we wouldn’t dare mimic him to his face).

As I entered adulthood, it was my fathers words I held onto when I was faced with the decision to stay in a specific chapter of my life or move on. It was as if his words were the checks and balances and they soon became the determining factor. His words empowered me with the wisdom to know that I, Andrea Tomassi get to decide the outcome of my story and no one else.

Looking back on my childhood, I am forever grateful for my fathers wise words and the lessons that followed when I applied those words to my life. To this day, I don’t think he realizes how much I have used them over the years. I think I will forward this blog to him tonight when I get home just to make sure he knows. If you ask me, everyday you stay at the Comfort Zone Hotel, you lose one more day of your precious life!

My sisters and brothers, I encourage you to step outside your “comfort zone.” Now I’m not encouraging you to jump out of an airplane or swim with sharks. Just start with this; make a bucket list!

What do you want to do in your lifetime?

Is there a fear you hope to overcome?

Is there a grudge you’ve been carrying for far to long?

Is there a heart that needs to be forgiven?

Are you in a relationship that needs to be mended?

Do you want to start a new healthy lifestyle?

Check out of that hotel today! Start writing your own bucket list. All you need for now is some quiet time, a pen and a piece of paper. You can always add to your list, but let me warn you…..NEVER allow yourself to delete things you’ve previously listed. They were written down for a reason. If you catch yourself doing this…..you’ve checked back in!

What’s stopping you from taking that “leap of faith?” What are you waiting for? What do you have to lose?

Rise up and do something today that your future self will thank you for.

Blessings,

Andi