Welcome to chapter 16 – Comfort zone
I’m so grateful you’re here to walk the plank with me.
This chapter feels like one of the scariest—doing things alone still gives me a cold shiver. But it has to be done. So let’s conquer it together.
You have to be willing to walk alone.
Not because you want to, but because sometimes that’s the only way forward. What you have to understand is Your vision won’t always make sense to other people, and waiting for them to understand can keep you stuck for a long time. No one will ever want your vision more than you do.
Walking alone is uncomfortable. It’s scary. Most of the time it just feels hard.
What’s crazy is when we do things alone, we think everyone is watching us. But most people aren’t. That pressure usually lives in our own head.
When I wanted to start going to the gym, I was terrified to go alone. I kept thinking, What if I don’t know how to use the machines? What if none are free? What if people are looking at me? Those thoughts stopped me.
Nothing was actually stopping me except fear.
One day, I decided I wasn’t living in my comfort zone anymore. Not because I suddenly felt confident far from, but because what I wanted mattered more than my fear.
I hate fear controlling me. I’m tired of it deciding what I do and don’t deserve. Tired of it keeping me stuck in places that feel safe but don’t feel right. I don’t want fear running my life anymore—I want to choose for myself.
I took the leap and left fear in my old comfortable box alone. One of the best decisions I’ve made in 2026.
I’ve committed to this blog. I’ve been going to the gym. I’ve set non-negotiables for myself because I can’t live another year inside a comfortable box that keeps me safe but doesn’t make me happy.
The comfort zone is comfortable—but it doesn’t give you what you want.
I don’t know anyone who’s stepped outside their comfort zone and didn’t grow from it.
So let’s do the uncomfortable.
If I can do it, anyone can. I’m a bag of nerves. The things I want can’t be found where I’m comfortable.
Let me leave this with you :Comfort keeps us safe. But it never made anyone happy.
Love Shana xx
Reading this took me straight to a convo I had today. Someone was telling me how scared she felt walking into a gym full of proper body-builder types big builds, serious faces and she nearly didn’t go in. Head full of “everyone’s watching me” thoughts. But she did it anyway. Even had her scarf wrapped round her like a little comfort shield at first 😅 The guy at the desk clocked her nerves and joked with her, made her feel at ease, said one day she’d be like them. She laughed, relaxed, and stayed.
She even nearly flew off the treadmill and someone checked if she was okay and instead of that being embarrassing, it just showed no one was judging like she thought. Everyone’s just… human.
That’s exactly what this blog is saying. The fear is loud in our heads, but in real life.. Most people are either focused on themselves or actually kinder than we expect. We build this huge story about walking in alone, but the growth is on the other side of that door.
The comfort zone really does trick us. It feels safe, but it also keeps us small. And it’s mad how the things we want confidence, strength, new beginnings are always just outside of it, waiting for us to be brave for like… 5 minutes.
Such an important reminder that being nervous doesn’t mean stop. Sometimes it just means you’re about to grow. 💫
Hey Chantelle, Thanks for reading and commenting the support means the world to me. And yes the voice of fear is as loud as thunder in our minds. We have to learn to ignore it or it will limit us. The mind is a crazy place and we have to learn to control it. Remember the mind can say what it likes to us but we are the ones in control so the final decision is our. So like your friend and the gym situation thats voice in her head was telling her to be scared and don’t go. But the decision was hers. Just goes to show who the real boss is we just have to realise it. xxx