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Leah Russell3 min

February – Get Out of Your Comfort Zone with Ben Aldridge

February 11, 2022

In this mini-series, I’m going to share with you a selection of challenges that can be used to get out of your comfort zone. If you want to experience personal growth, there’s nothing quite like a self-imposed challenge to help you achieve this. Challenges can teach us valuable lessons, build confidence and help us to bring adventure and colour into our lives. Challenging feelings of self-consciousness All of us have the ability to feel self-conscious about things. This is perfectly normal. We can often worry about how others view us and this fear of being judged badly can make us act in a certain way – it can make us more conservative and make us feel easily embarrassed. Now, this isn’t going to apply to everyone, but I think that a lot of people will experience this. If you’re an introvert, you might be more self-conscious about these external judgments. If you’re an extrovert, you might not be. However, this is not a rule. There are many exceptions. The challenges this month are all about deliberately embarrassing yourself. Or, at least, attempting to. There are many reasons to do this. Firstly, it can help you to build confidence. The more often you expose yourself to awkward situations, the easier you will find handling them. Secondly, it can help you to take yourself less seriously – something that a lot of us could do with doing! The idea of making yourself look silly in public isn’t a new one. The Cynic philosophers of Ancient Greece were known to do this as a way to challenge their thinking. It’s also been used more recently as part of REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy). By getting patients to make themselves feel embarrassed in public, they can learn to overcome social anxiety. When they see that there aren’t really negative consequences to these actions, they can learn to relax. They can then learn to take themselves less seriously and not get caught up with what others are thinking about them. By doing things that are embarrassing and paying attention to how the mind deals with this, you can start to challenge this internal dialog. At the end of the day, why does it matter if people judge you badly? Being overly worried about being judged by others can greatly limit your life. So, let’s put these ideas to the test and look at how you can actually start embarrassing yourself in a practical way. Challenges ideas:

Go for a backwards walk

Go for a backwards walk in a busy public place – be careful not to walk into anyone. Yes, this will feel embarrassing!

Sing out loud in public

Start singing at the top of your voice the next time you’re in crowded place. It’s better if you’re on your own as this makes the experience more intense (no friends to laugh with you).

Go for a barefoot walk in public

Take your shoes off and go for a walk in public. Be careful where you put your feet! This will likely turn a few heads…

Wear something outrageous for the day

Pick a selection of your most unusual clothes and strut around in public. A saucepan hat, dressing gown and wellies might make a good combination… Anything that makes you cringe will be perfect!

Tell a stranger a joke

Learn a joke and tell it to the next random person you see. Make it a terrible and unfunny joke if you want to work on handling cringey situations. These challenges are great for your mindset. They can help you to build confidence by exposing you to awkward situations. You then become desensitized to this awkwardness over time. It’s a lot easier said than done but it really does work! So, why not give it a go? I wish you the best of luck on your embarrassing adventures. About the Author Ben Aldridge writes about practical philosophy, comfort zones, mental health and adventure. He is the author of How to Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable and the Get Out of Your Comfort Zone Cards. For more information on how to connect with Ben, visit benaldridge.com, Instagram: @dothingsthatchallengeyou