For the majority of my life, I’ve had this crippling fear of new or unfamiliar experiences; I’ve generally always been reluctant when given the opportunity to try something new, even if it’s something as simple as trying kind of food I’ve never tasted before. I get stuck on thoughts of all that could go wrong. What if the food tastes nasty? What if it’s spoiled? What if I’m allergic to it? What if I choke on it and die? What if…

 

          What if it’s delicious though? What if it would become my new favorite food if I actually tried it for a change? I rarely think so optimistically about such things; I’m always focused on my fears of bad things that aren’t even likely to happen, and never on any positive outcome.

 

          Over the past several years, I have gotten much better when it comes to trying out new things. What has helped most in pushing me out of my usual habit of crinkling up my nose at the thought of something new is traveling with my aunt Tara. Ever since the summer of 2008, we’ve made it a tradition to pick out a place from The List (a list of places we want to eventually go) to visit each summer. We’ve explored so many amazing cities, from somewhat “local” destinations like Seattle and Boston, to more foreign locations like Ireland, London, and all the way up to the northernmost isles of Scotland.

 

          Through all of those weeks and months of traveling in unfamiliar cities, I have kind of been forced to stop being so stubborn, and I’ve come to realize that sometimes I just have to ignore that nagging “What if, what if…” voice in my head, and just go for it. In terms of food, there were times when we had no idea what was even being served to us, so unless we wanted to starve, we had to take that step outside of our nice familiar comfort zone and just eat it. This has really allowed me to have a more open mind to new experiences (and not just food, per se), instead of turning something down from the get-go.

 

          I believe in taking risks, and taking those few big steps to forsake that pesky comfort zone. Without such steps, I would likely still be that picky eater, asking for no onions or tomatoes or peppers or pickles or what have you, without knowing (or even caring to know) exactly what it is that I’ve been missing out on this time. Without those risks, how would I ever be able to really enjoy the best things in life, while always trying to pick out the events or experiences that might go wrong somehow?? To bring this to a bigger scale, without taking such risks, how are we as a society able to progress through the passing years and decades, continuing to make advancements that no one would have even dreamt of a century ago?

 

 

It all starts with that one step.