Out Of My Comfort Zone
© Susan Todd-Raque
One of the important reasons for vacationing is to relax and get away from the daily routine of our lives. An important piece of this experience is getting out of our “comfort zone”. The paradox is we can’t wait to shuck that routine and then we can’t wait to have the routine back, hopefully with a renewed spirit. This was especially true recently when my wife and I traveled out of the country.
One realizes in Europe how young the U.S. is and how wonderful it is to live with all its amenities. We Americans are lucky to have daily creature comforts at our disposal. In the U.S., I take for granted an air-conditioned store when it is 90 F outside and when in a public place finding a place to go to the bathroom without having to pay a Euro. In Europe, the closest one can get to a king size bed is a big double, which barely fits two tall people. The simple conveniences we are so accustomed to, in large part, are unavailable in Europe.
The tradeoff for these creature comforts was being able to walk back into history and out of the comfort of modern American life. It was eye opening to walk into the Santa Maria Nouvella church in Florence and see a wood crucifix carved by Giotto in the 13th century or to walk into the Hermitage in Montesiepi, Italy that the legend of the Holy Grail is based upon. The knight, San Galgano, in 1180 AD, after a calling from God, gave up all his worldly possessions and plunged his Excalibur sword into the fissure of a rock inside the hut he lived. Driving to Stonehenge outside London we returned still wondering about how the Druids were able to move those huge rocks into a pattern. We also noticed that the public transportation system is everywhere, very few people sat fixated by their cell phones, and that technology is not the end all for most Europeans. Less seems to be more.
An important part of mental health is the ability to adapt. Change is inevitable for all of us. Getting out of your comfort zone strengthens our ability to adapt to change and so, I am looking forward to our next trip.
