Beyond the comfort zone

I'm not sure where this recent increase in my need to self-challenge has come from but lately I'm feeling more and more desire to expand my horizons and continually push myself beyond my comfort zone.


I think it has a lot to do with my falling back in love with rugby, not that I ever really stopped liking it, I just got very 'meh' with competitive sport in general last year, no one sport or teams fault, just a slowly growing unpleasant feeling about attitudes and commitment.


I believe that to succeed in life and in sport you must be willing to commit everything to the pursuit of your goal. Don't half arse it and expect a medal, promotion, achievement on the other side.


Personal and professional growth takes work and effort, it takes a desire to become a better person and an acceptance of what the current failings are.


I have so much respect and love for the way the England Rugby team approached the recent Six Nations tournament, especially coming on the back of the World Cup. It would have been very easy for them to roll over and play dead or to come out all guns blazing like it was a wild west showdown. But they didn't.  They came out with passion, energy, and dedication. They had a game plan and they stuck to it. Get the job done and get it done well. You only had to look at the team's reaction after the skipper went down; concerned but pulling together for a quick team talk before going into running drills. No standing around chatting or hassling the medical staff, staying focused on the job in hand and make sure they were ready to go again as soon as the ref resumed play. (There will probably be a post at some point about my thoughts on rugby vs football referees!)


Taking a massive disappointment and channelling that experience into a determination to do better is something I hope I can keep doing; the next few weeks are full of a lot of challenges for me including 3 exams and a social event I'm terrified of so here's to positive thoughts and just getting on with getting it right!


And if I fail, well, some of the best people in the world have failed at things, they just kept going and didn't let it define them :)