Expanding horizons

In life, I'm told, it's important to expand your horizons. Push the envelope. Expand your comfort zone. Think outside of the box. All that jazz.

I agree. It's important to do those things. You can't always just stick to who and what you know. You just can't. Where's the personal growth if that's what you're going to do?

But I think it's a misconception that you have to do something drastic to expand your horizons.

I am, to say the least, a safe and cautious person, and I'm ok with that. Some people are more adventurous and take risks - and admirably so. Good for them, but that's not my style.

It was a big, BIG deal for me to pack up my life and move 600 miles away from everyone and everything I knew to go to school in a state I wasn't entirely convinced existed. That was a major expansion of my own personal horizon.

You know what was also a big deal for me? I went to New York recently for a couple of days to meet with some magazine people out there. Granted, it was only two days and, no, New York isn't THAT scary, but I'm not a big city type of girl. At all. I don't like big cities. Maybe I'm just boring that way, but that's how I am. There was another expanded horizon.

Not only was I walking around a big city by myself, but I was also meeting with some pretty intimidating people.

That's a lot of overwhelming stuff for someone like me in such a short period of time. And through all of that I realized that expanding horizons doesn't necessarily involve going to the other side of the country at all. It's as simple as going to a new restaurant. Meeting someone new. Joining a club. Getting a different haircut. Taking an interesting class that doesn't apply to your particular field of study. Trying your brother's new video game and enjoying it even though you convinced yourself you wouldn't.

I think when it comes to pushing your personal envelope you have to understand what kind of person you are. Are you the type who can take massive risks and launch yourself into an entirely different environment and adapt flawlessly? Or are you more cautious and prefer to maximize the comfort zone and minimize discomfort? There's nothing wrong with either, but I think it's an important distinction to make. Expanded horizons aren't necessarily waiting in New York, or any other distant and foreign place - they are, in fact, everywhere. I would even venture to say they're absolutely impossible to avoid.