- Doing one activity-based budget and one budget for a no-cost extension
- Buying screws and plastic anchors to adhere my Ikea coat rack on the wall
- Using Chipotle hacks to maximize my burrito size (for someone who orders the exact same thing every time, this qualifies as daring)
- Writing a silly blog post about my everyday life
This post started with
complaining over text message about how harrrrd everything is. I spent all day
at work doing stuff that I sort of but don't totally understand how to do, and
a huge volume of it all at once, and worked late into the evening at it. On the
way home, I stopped at the hardware store for supplies for my “put furniture in
the house and also have a place to put your clothes” efforts, which I swore I'd
finish by the end of November and have therefore been consuming decent chunks
of my evenings and weekends. Between a busy week at work and trying to get the
apartment together in the evenings, I’m tired.
Austin and I were talking
the other night about how adulthood seems to be a succession of doing things
for the first time and figuring them out – which can feel like a constant
uphill slog – and that hit me again in line while texting at Chipotle. And then
the phrase "outside my comfort zone" popped into my head.
Because really, that's
exactly what all this harrrrrd adulting stuff is. Everyone, especially
inspiration-minded twenty-something bloggers, loves talking about how important
it is to push yourself outside your comfort zone, how that’s where the growth
and magic happen. And I totally believe that. I even decided “grow in place”
would be my phrase for 2013.
“Leaving your comfort zone” usually
conjures images of quit-your-job-and-buy-a-one-way-ticket travel, or getting
comfortable with public speaking and blind dates, or various other colorful,
random hijinks. I’ve been thinking of “growing in place” as the fun extracurricular
activities that complement my day job – growing my first garden, looking for
challenging extracurricular activities, maybe trying roller derby if I can get
up the nerve for it.
But today I realized that
the sometimes-mundane stuff of daily life can be just as life-enriching as the
sexier stuff that populate everyone’s “25 by 25” lists, mine included. My work
isn’t always thrilling, but it’s often challenging, falling into that sweet
spot of being not-impossible but still a little outside the realm of what’s easy
for me, and I’m growing as a professional as a result. As much as I wish I
could have spent my November evenings on underwater basket weaving instead of
constructing Ikea furniture and scouring Craigslist for a couch, I’ve been
learning new things and getting a little more competent every day. (I had no
idea until recently that you can have a bed with just a mattress, a box spring
and a frame.) And “working hard” is outside everyone’s comfort zone – no matter
how many hours we’re used to working, we’d probably all rather be watching
Netflix.
So this lovely, Pinteresty idea of “outside
your comfort zone,” in practice, often feels like being stressed and confused
and frustrated with tasks that seem mundane. Within the comfort zone of working and living in DC, there are plenty of opportunities to learn and grow on an everyday basis, not just
when I decide to check off a bucket list item.
So here’s to being
stretched, challenged, and sometimes a little overwhelmed in daily life. That just might be where the magic happens.