I Believe In Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone: Draft??

By Shannon M Mcculloch, January 20, 2015

I am a genuinely shy person. I am never the one to put myself out there first. One thing I have always wondered is what would happen if I actually did? What would happen if I actually made the first move for once in my life? Or what would happen if I broke out of my shell and did something spontaneous and different? The answer is: incredible things. Incredible things happen when you step out of your comfort zone.
Coming from a small town in Pennsylvania, my high school was also a small one with only 204 students in my graduating class. It was a big change to go from small town girl to “big town girl” here at Penn State. I was involved in a lot in my high school but that is only because I felt comfortable there, I knew all of the teachers and I knew all of my classmates so I had nothing to fear. Well when I got to Penn State, it opened my eyes up to a whole new world. I was put in supplemental housing and that was a scary situation for me. When I first found out about my housing situation, I was so upset. I didn’t know how I was supposed to adjust to one roommate let alone 7! To my surprise, two did not wish to stay so there were now six girls living together. Shy little me was living with 5 other girls.
I remember moving in and not speaking at all. I unpacked my things and claimed my small corner of the room. I remember my parents taking me to dinner and ensuring that everything would be okay. When I went back to the room, I remember seeing another roommate moving in and noticing that she had the same shoes that I had! I said something without thinking.. I said “Oh My Gosh! I love your shoes! I have the same ones!” She smiled cautiously and said that they were her favorites.
Then walks in a short roommate. Me being the averagely tall person I am, I tried my humor and cracked a short joke at her. Ballsy move, I know. She laughed and we introduced ourselves only to find out that we had both played soccer in high school and she loves her cats just as much as I love my dog!
A third roommate chose the bunk above me. I instantly thought “wow!”. If she chose this bunk out of all of the options, maybe we would be great friends!
And that my friends was the beginning of a beautiful thing. You see, friendships are not formed by sitting alone in your quiet little comfy corner. Rather, friendships are formed by stepping out of your comfort zone and into the unknown. Because, If you never step into the unknown, how will you ever know of the beautiful things, the beautiful people, and the beautiful friendships that are just waiting for you.

…if this is a bad idea I can easily tell a different story of when i stepped out of my comfort zone..
or I could always choose another topic to pursue 🙂