Many have said that "life begins at the end of your comfort zone", or "great things never came from comfort zone", or "outside of the comfort zone is where the magic happens". I feel like it is important to define what or where this 'somewhat over-mentioned zone' before leaving it. Where is it?
Is it where I was born? Is it where I was raised? Is it where I spent most of my growing up years? Is it where my family and closed ones live? Is it where everyone knows and accepts me? Is it 'where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day'? I couldn't find it on Google Maps!
It is easy to "justify" traveling or living overseas as a reason to leave our comfort zone. But is home really everyone's comfort zone? What if some people find the wilderness more comfortable than their own hometown? Is it right to say that their lives have begun whereas they actually are in their comfort zone?
"Oh, my ways are strange ways and new ways and old ways, And deep ways and steep ways and high ways and low, I'm at home and at ease on a track that I know not, And restless and lost on a road that I know."
— Henry Lawson
What if the magic could also occur in the mundane aspects of daily life?
I began questioning my comfort zone ever since I left my Red-White country to stay temporarily in this Red-Blue-White country. The thought of returning to my hometown honestly gave me chills. I don't want to go back to humidity. I am not ready to cope with the hideous traffic. Does this mean I have called Seattle my comfort zone? Is Jakarta still my comfort zone? Which place shall I leave behind to begin my new life, to see great things, and let the magic happen?
"The other day I was crossing the street, lost in my head about something - a not uncommon state of affairs. I was listening to the overture and as the music began to swell I suddenly realised that: I had hands. And legs, and a torso, and that I was surrounded by people and cars.
It's hard to explain exactly what happened, but I felt in that moment that the divine—however we may choose to define such a thing—surely dwells as much in the concrete and taxi cabs as it does in the rivers, lakes, and mountains.
Grace, I realised, is neither time nor place dependent. All we need is the right soundtrack."
— Jesse Fisher / Liberal Arts (2012)
I guess, for now, it is safe to say that it doesn't matter where my comfort zone is. . .as long as I have the right soundtrack.
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