"Thinking out of the box" is such a cliche phrase. I feel like it is a overused to enforce critical thinking. I hate critical thinking. Why can't everything just be black and white? Why do I have to know why something is true? Although this may be a cliche, annoying, overused phrase, it has so much relevance in life. I had a professor second semester freshman year for psychology that I got really close with. One of her big "things" was to have us think outside of the box. I am in a set of math classes for my major that are all about why math is the way it is. I am in the second of the series of three classes and I literally cannot stand the phrase, "Well why is that true, Courtney?"
I was on a bike ride the other day thinking about my comfort zone. I came up with a little analogy. Our comfort zone is much like said "box". We have this little area, physically or mentally, that make us happy and, well, comfortable. What defines the perimeter of this box is extremely personal, its as small or as large as you want to make it. But the bigger the box is, the more opportunities we have. The more we will grow. I say, the bigger the better!
Many of you may know the bike is the most recent leg of triathlon that I picked up. I have only been seriously riding since last summer. I am still trying to get comfortable on the bike. Every time I get in the saddle I learn something new.
In May, there was no way in hell you would catch me out on my bike if the ground was at all wet. Monday I rode right after the storm ended. Was I uncomfortable? You better believe it. I was going over all the scenarios of what could happen with a wet road. However, it is so important to know how to ride on a wet road, what happens if it starts storming in the middle of a race and I haven't practiced riding in wet weather? What's my point? I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to grow a little bit.
Today I again made my box a little bigger on the bike. I had a goal in my head. I wanted to beat my time trial time from last week. Last Wednesday I did a time trial on dry river (relatively flat, not busy road in the burg), I had another TT today. Last week, my time was 27:44. Side note: the first time I did a time trial on Dry River, February 2011, I did about 35 minutes!! Crazy! Well today, my legs felt tired just biking around campus so I knew I would have quite the challenge to beat my most recent time. But I threw my head down, dropped the hammer, and biked my heart out. I got my heart rate way up (though it was pretty humid, hot and I was tired... see Connie I remember your physiology lesson!) and my legs were on fire. I have never felt like this on the bike. I wanted to die. For real. Prayed for a car to hit me, okay no not really I wouldn't want that to happen at all, but you get the point. I was hurting. It paid off though. When I looked down at my stopped watch, I had managed to finish in 26:38. I took an entire minute off my time from last week! I was so happy, I think a f*** yeah! came out of my mouth. Oops. What else helped me drop time? I stayed in my aero bars and pedaled through all the "scary turns". Once again, I am really trying to get myself more comfortable on the bike. There is no way I can pedal through a turn during a race if I don't practice!
So where am I going with this? PUSH YOURSELF! Get out of that stupid comfort zone. Make that box a little bigger. I promise you won't be disappointed. I have a new goal, every workout, press that perimeter of that box just a bit bigger. It doesn't have to be a lot, every little bit counts. I'm not saying YOLO, but do something you think is scary. Do something that makes you uncomfortable. We grow from these experiences. Answer a question aloud in class, start a job that you never thought you could do (hello, me, a project engineer intern for a construction project? HAHA WHAT?! I'm an education major! I like kids not construction!), make your legs burn a little more than you're used to, whatever it is, learn from it!
Anyway, enough motivation for now. I've gotta go shower and get ready for dinner/class. Have a great night everyone! Be on the lookout for a race post this weekend! I am racing Patriots Sprint on Sunday!
Here is a lovely picture from my bike ride today. The calm before the storm. Literally, started pouring as soon as I got home!
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