Meme, unfocusedly answered

"This is probably the millionth example just this week that I have seen of people talking about the virtue of getting out of "the comfort zone", and here's my challenge as a consequence:

Speculate about why everyone is so sure getting out of the comfort zone (whatever that means) is a good idea, and explain why you agree with them."

Strangely enough, even though I'm aware of herd mentality behind meme propagation, I almost took offense at this. But then I decided not to and moved on. I have some charitable and some not charitable ideas about this. My own rationale for posting this meme, other than the usual meme-rationale of "attention, please" was that I don't know my own blind spots. I think I spend all my journaling cycling between talking about depression, Light, food, books and cats, but maybe there's something else I could talk about that would make people more prone to be interested in what I have to say, or maybe there's just something else to talk about that I'm forgetting. So far, the three comments I've gotten are all interesting, and if my clever entry title wasn't enough reason to post a meme-thing, two new things to think about and an excuse to post cat pictures are reason enough.

There are layers of comfort zones, and I think challenging myself textually is probably a good idea. I'm not endangering myself, I wouldn't answer any especially negative or uncomfortable questions such as "Exactly how much resentment do you harbor towards X?" or "What's your mom's phone number?" I think sometimes it's nice or useful to poke at the edges of the envelope, like testing the roof of your mouth with your tongue to see if it's still sore from drinking too-hot tea.

I think people like the idea of permission to write about something, and it's a little bit like a writing prompt, but with a veneer of self-improvement on top of it. Challenging yourself is supposed to be character-building and all that.

We're taught (I think) that being comfortable is somehow a bad thing, synonymous with being in a rut, and while I don't entirely believe that and in hindsight, I miss the hell out of my old rut, I think it's good to check out the rest of the landscape.

Meme, unfocusedly answered

"This is probably the millionth example just this week that I have seen of people talking about the virtue of getting out of "the comfort zone", and here's my challenge as a consequence:

Speculate about why everyone is so sure getting out of the comfort zone (whatever that means) is a good idea, and explain why you agree with them."

Strangely enough, even though I'm aware of herd mentality behind meme propagation, I almost took offense at this. But then I decided not to and moved on. I have some charitable and some not charitable ideas about this. My own rationale for posting this meme, other than the usual meme-rationale of "attention, please" was that I don't know my own blind spots. I think I spend all my journaling cycling between talking about depression, Light, food, books and cats, but maybe there's something else I could talk about that would make people more prone to be interested in what I have to say, or maybe there's just something else to talk about that I'm forgetting. So far, the three comments I've gotten are all interesting, and if my clever entry title wasn't enough reason to post a meme-thing, two new things to think about and an excuse to post cat pictures are reason enough.

There are layers of comfort zones, and I think challenging myself textually is probably a good idea. I'm not endangering myself, I wouldn't answer any especially negative or uncomfortable questions such as "Exactly how much resentment do you harbor towards X?" or "What's your mom's phone number?" I think sometimes it's nice or useful to poke at the edges of the envelope, like testing the roof of your mouth with your tongue to see if it's still sore from drinking too-hot tea.

I think people like the idea of permission to write about something, and it's a little bit like a writing prompt, but with a veneer of self-improvement on top of it. Challenging yourself is supposed to be character-building and all that.

We're taught (I think) that being comfortable is somehow a bad thing, synonymous with being in a rut, and while I don't entirely believe that and in hindsight, I miss the hell out of my old rut, I think it's good to check out the rest of the landscape.