A friend posted this image on Facebook last week, bemoaning how stuck in her comfort zone she has been lately. I identified with the drawing, and recognized myself as moving out of my comfort zone lately and into the magic sphere. These things tend to happen in cycles - hibernate, create, hibernate, create, et cetera.
But then, later, I realized that the image wasn't quite right. You don't have to leave your comfort zone to find magic! Magic can be found in everyday, normal, boring things. Enjoying a book under snuggly covers on a winter morning can be magic. Hot chocolate with marshmallows can be magic. A child's goodnight kiss can be magic. There are other, bigger magics that can also happen well within the confines of one's comfort zone.
There's also a tone to this image and the comments from those who linked and re-linked it that struck me as sad. There's a stigma attached to remaining in your comfort zone. If you're really living your life, the assumption goes, you'll force yourself outside of your happy security-blanket space and into the really real world. If you're not experiencing magic, you must not be brave enough, ambitious enough, energetic enough, zen enough, rested enough, balanced enough. If you're not experiencing magic, you must not be terribly good at this whole life thing.
That's just crazy, shame-y talk. Magic is all around us, both inside our safety zone and outside of it waiting for us to push ourselves a bit. Sometimes it's a good thing to face a challenge and discover something new, and sometimes we need to be in a place that is all about hibernation and not at all about seeking out wild, unexplored territory.
With that in mind, I recreated the graphic:
They're not separate spheres. Push yourself to move outside of your comfort zone, hole up in a safe non-magic-y space, or dwell happily in the overlap. It's up to you. There is no wrong way to do it.
