Today I want to talk about why it’s important to leave your comfort zone.
I touched briefly on this topic in two of my previous posts, namely Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo 2020 and Guide to Fall Art and Writing Challenges. If you’ve read both of those posts, you will know that they’re both about the same thing: challenges.
I love participating in challenges. Art challenges, writing challenges – it doesn’t matter. But why do I like them, and why are they important?
Challenges Force You Out of Your Comfort Zone
The point of a challenge is to leave your comfort zone. Whether that’s practicing with a new medium for your art, or writing a flash fiction for a particular character every day to flesh them out. Basically, challenges are a disciplined way to leave your comfort zone. Most organized challenges have rules and a list of prompts for each day, which give the challenge structure. However, you can also decide to challenge yourself outside of an established challenge.
If you go from only painting occasionally to challenging yourself to paint once a week, you are forcing yourself to leave your comfort zone.
When you decide to write and finish a novel after writing short stories or starting a novel draft and then dropping it, you are leaving your comfort zone.
That’s right – you don’t even have to leave your house.
Why It’s Important to Leave Your Comfort Zone
Usually, if you’re comfortable with something, it means that you do it a lot. It’s familiar. You do it every day.
But doing the same thing every day is no way to improve.
You need to stretch your skills by focusing on the parts you usually skip. I know, you don’t want to do them. They’re hard!
The crux of it is, if you never work on those aspects, they’re going to remain hard.
Not only that, but sometimes people have misconceptions about what they’re capable of. You may think “writing long things is hard. I’m going to stick with short stories.” But if you try to write something long, like a novella or a novel, you may find that you really like it.
Self-Doubt Kills Creativity
Self doubt kills creativity and causes writer’s block. Increase your confidence and your competence by trying new things. Some of them, yeah, you’ll suck at. But others you might just surprise yourself.
And don’t forget. Nothing you try will be perfect right away. It’s frustrating, but that’s life. You need to study and practice in order to get good.
Skills are built, not born.
How I’ve Been Breaking Out of My Comfort Zone this Month
During October, I’ve been practicing my watercolour painting.
I’m not a painter. The whole process intimidates me. But I’ve always loved the look of watercolours, and I’ve had some paints and watercolour paper sitting in my drawer for years. I thought now would be a good time to really work on that skill.
The results have been… not great (see the above note about “studying” and “practice”).
It has been SUPER FUN though.
Like these little bunches of lavender? Super fun and simple to paint. Yeah, it’s not gonna be hanging up in a gallery. But I’m pretty proud of it regardless.
The tools I’ve been using aren’t particularly expensive. I’ll list them down below for anyone who’s interested.
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My Tools
- Daler-Rowney Simply Watercolor Aquarelle watercolor paints (set of 24 x 12ml). However, there are other sizes available if you want a smaller set;
- Canson XL Series Watercolor Pad, 9″ by 12″. My main complaint with this sketchpad is that the finished sheets don’t fold over easily, so I have to remove the previous painting or lay it open, which I don’t have the space to do. However, I’m happy with the paper quality;
- Princeton Velvetouch Artiste Long Round Brush, Size 8. This is my most recent purchase, and my most expensive brush; and
- I wasn’t able to find them online, but I have an old set of Green Art brushes and paints. I believe I got them at Michaels, but they don’t seem to have them anymore.
Other than that, I’ve been using a Denny’s GrandSlam cup and an ancient plastic cup for my water, and one of those toddler plates that keep your food separate as a palette. What can I say? I’m cheap. And why shell out for expensive stuff when what I have works?
Remember to follow me on Instagram if you haven’t already. You can also shop my art on Etsy and Redbubble.
To find out how else I’ve been breaking out of my comfort zone this year, read this reflective post.
