The Growth of Trying a New Outlet

Believe it or not, the place we feel the safest is our most limiting spot. That space is called our comfort zone. I’m sure by now you have heard the comfort zone bubble through work, school, social media, and more. There are plenty of self-development books out there preaching for you to leave that comfort zone. One cannot grow in that space and need to task more risks. That idea is one of the truest statements out there. Similar to many of you, I am heavily against taking risks. When you take a risk you then surrender your control of a situation and losing that control is what halts people from growing. I am right there with you. I love structure and routine, it gives me a sense of knowing and control.

Here’s the reality I have finally surrendered to. We as people do not control everything. The few things we can control are as follows, our reactions, decisions, and perspectives. Most events and situations that happen to us we have little control over. It took me about of year of therapy and a pandemic to make me realize this. We cannot control what happens to us but, we can control how we react to it. Write that down somewhere for you to always remember because it’s facts.

My anxiety has always been manifested around control. I would feel anxious when I was in a place where I wasn’t in control. I had heavy anxiety at the beginning of my relationship because I was not in control anymore. I now had a partner who has a life and feelings as well. When I make decisions it is no longer only impacting me, it could impact him as well. My friends, when I tell you the moment I began to surrender my need to be in charge of every aspect of my life, I felt lighter. I no longer had this heavy load of worry and guilt. I began to live.

I am a teacher in NYC and I have been fully remote since November. I have been trying my darndest to be the same teacher I was in the classroom but, it’s not translating over a Google Meet. I have completely lost my enthusiasm and motivation as an educator. That’s not my school’s fault, my fault, or the students’ fault. It is a side effect of living through a pandemic. I wanted every lesson to be perfect and engaging but, it is draining. I am exhausted and so are the kids. Some days the links wouldn’t work in my lesson or my wifi was not working with me and lessons would be a total disaster. I began to wonder what is my purpose? Teaching this year simply is not fulfilling me. Now, this is a temporary feeling we all are feeling as educators. So, I began to shift my perspective.

Obviously, I am immensely grateful to still have a job and even remote lessons have great days. Unfortunately though, my frequency of motivation diminished day by day. One morning as I was journaling and manifesting my goals I surrendered my control. I wrote, “ I will find my purpose again.” I thought to myself, “I have a service to this world, I have so much more I want to give and share.” I have a feeling that my service to this universe is to help people. Coach them, teach them, inspire them, motivate them to reach their highest potential. I kept receiving this nagging feeling inside me to share my service in a different outlet. I am an educator but, I keep getting this sensation that I am more than a teacher and I should step out of my comfort zone.

Something inside was telling me to start a podcast. I have been working on my own mindset over this past year and have learned a lot. I have shared that information on this platform as well through my writing. I still felt though I need to share my information in a different way. So, I bought a microphone on Amazon. Once, I made that purchase though, I thought to myself, “Allie what are you doing? You don’t know the first thing about starting a podcast and who would even care what you had to say?” That was my scared ego trying hardcore to stop me from growing. My soul said to do it, it will make you happy, who cares what people think!

Step out of that bubble guys trust me. I muscled up the courage to start a business Instagram where I share my blogs and podcast episodes. I am learning on the go and that’s okay. Growth Mindset people! I began researching on google and youtube on how to start a podcast. I found a site called Anchor that can help you set up your podcast for free! Then, just like that, I was off to the races! I did a similar process when finding out how to start a blog and here I am 9 months later! We have so many resources at our fingertips!

Do not shy away from something because you don’t know anything about it! You can figure it out, say hello to the internet! You may not be perfect at first but, who really is when they are learning a new skill. Remember people with fixed mindsets believe you are born with your set skills and that’s it. A growth mindset is you can acquire new skills over time. Let me tell you guys after I recorded the first podcast episode I felt so fulfilled. My soul was on fire. I felt so good about the message I was sending out to people. From my first episode, I already had people reaching out to me telling me how much they enjoyed it. Now I am not trying to self-plug here but, after making this business Instagram and connect with more people through my blogs and podcast I feel that innate purpose again just like I did my first year of teaching.

Humans are naturally curious people. We are life long learners that have been tamed by society. We are told by 18 we need to know who we want to be and what we want to do for the rest of our lives. Reading that to yourself do you see how limiting that is? I was a very different person at 18. We are taught to be good employees, not a boss. We are taught to be logical and not creative. Step out of that bubble my friend. Learning a new skill is not a sin, it’s natural. Trying a new creative outlet is healing. That’s your inner child reminding you of who you are. Creativity doesn’t only mean someone who can draw or paint. Creativity means you create something! Creating content such as writing, podcasts, and youtube videos is a creative outlet. If it makes you happy do it! Trust me you’ll figure it out.

Stop letting the opinions of others dictate your life! Is it their life or yours? Life is too dang short to worry about those trivial things. Do your research and try it out! If it doesn’t work out that’s okay, it’s a lesson. Now you figured out what doesn’t work for you so you can keep climbing to find what does! You are made for so much more than you think. We all have a service to provide to this universe. Do not hold back your service because of the fear of failure. If all inventors let fear hold them back we would not be as technologically advanced as we are now. Think about that. If you want to share content with the world do it.

Work hard and spread that light! There will always be haters because those people wish they could be doing what you’re sharing. My saying is “Ignore and soar!” Try that new skill, create that youtube channel, create that blog, create that podcast, create that Etsy shop, start that small business. Your people are waiting for you. Step out of the bubble and grow your mindset. You will be amazed at how much you’ll glow.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.-Thomas Edison

Anchor Site: https://anchor.fm

My Podcast: The Growth Mindset Gal:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CQ4pD66Ftes9TgTCCV2NV

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-growth-mindset-gal/id1551175919

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Previously published on medium

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