Walking With My Eyes Closed
How many times have you wanted to do something outside of your comfort zone, but be absolutely petrified when it came to executing on it? For me, I’ve struggled with this countless times and even just last week, caught myself feeling like a “deer in headlights” when it came to asking someone out to dinner.
In the moment, all of the thoughts that funneled through my mind were of catastrophic scenarios; I would be laughed at, shunned for all eternity, fumble for the words, or somehow embarrass myself beyond imagination. Every thought I had was completely irrational and absurd in every way, yet I believed them to be true causing myself to leap back into the safety of my comfort zone.
After this mishap, I did the only thing I thought logical;
I committed to walking with my eyes closed a portion of everyday.
Hear me out. At the core, our minds are programmed to survive and do whatever it takes to preserve this beautiful thing we call life. My mind will go to any length and use any means necessary to protect itself from “danger” which includes stepping out of my comfort zone.
I get so frustrated when I have these completely irrational thoughts because even though I am aware that they are preposterous, I still concede and give in to them.
In order to combat this restricting habit of mine, I decided to walk with my eyes closed for at least a total of one minute everyday and here’s why:
To Truly Realize How Absurd My Mind CAN Be
Disclaimer: I would survey the area around me and make sure that it was flat with no obstacles in the way. Generally a yard or park of some sort.
When I first started this exercise, I can tell you I had a laundry list of crazy thoughts streaming through my mind. A plane would crash on top of me, I would fall through a hole, or even be run over by a car. Now anything is possible, but highly unlikely to happen in the middle of a flat park. Come on brain!
To Grow By Ignoring the “Noise”
I’ve come to realize that there is so much “noise” and so many distractions in this world. I always fall back on this quote from The Office when Jan was telling Pam about the great design program opportunity in New York;
“There are always a million reasons not to do something. “ -Jan Levinson-Gould
Pam kept conjuring up excuses why she wouldn’t be able to do it, despite truly wanting to. The noise in her mind was preventing her from living her dream! Through this exercise, I am conditioning myself to recognize the noise in my mind and in my environment, and evaluate whether or not to submit to them or ignore them!
To Conquer My Fears
You would be surprised at how many fears we have. We just don’t know what they all are yet. When I first started this, I was scared with every step. I barely could go three steps without taking a peek….BUT NOW, I’ve grown. I’ve slowly started to conquer this and I can confidently say that I can walk a solid 50 feet without opening my eyes one bit!
I don’t expect this method I came up with of walking with my eyes closed to be everyone’s strategy. The point isn’t to get you to do the same. My intent in sharing this with you is to help you recognize the irrational thoughts that you might have running through your mind. I want to encourage you to
FIND A METHOD THAT WORKS FOR YOU
so that you too, can slowly, but surely gain the confidence to move past all of the “noise” in your mind. All of this, to reach your true potential and achieve the greatness that lies ahead!
I hope this helped and at the very least, was interesting to read!
Let me know what methods you come up with in the comments below!
Stay Safe, Stay You =]
John Lee