Stretching Yourself By Steping Outside Your Comfort Zone

I loved hiking out in the woods when I was a little girl. And I still do. It is so good for the soul. For some reason I am a bit afraid to go hiking by myself. I guess it started when I heard there were wild boars out and about several years ago. And even near my own home - that is much more populated then this state park is, we have seen a coyote jogging by across the road from our house. So you can imagine that I would think there could be the possibility that I could encounter one on a hiking trail out in the woods.

My husband loves to fish, but he does not like to hike. Because of this if I want to hike I have to go by myself. After walking the main hiking trail a couple of times, I pulled out the map of the park and began looking at my other options of trails to hike. I had never hiked the other trails before and I really wanted to hike them. The entrance to the two hiking trails that for a bit of a figure eight is about 1/2 down the road from our rev. Then the trails combine equal about 4 miles. I really wanted to go. I debated for a bit and then decided I will feel much better if I just do it. I would regret it if I had passed up the opportunity to go check them out. So off I went. Just before the entrance onto the hiking path I got to see a momma deer and her two babies. Earlier in the day my husband and I had seen the babies and I had gotten some decent photos of them.


This evening I got to see the momma with her babies. I will share a post later with photos - might add them here as well.


Pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone helps us grow. Just the pushing myself to get out and hike even though it scares me just a bit has challenged me and caused me to grow and it really feels good to grow.  Being out in nature helps heal our souls and grows us in many ways.

There is one more trail here at this park that I have yet to hike. My plan is to walk it in the morning. I have my plan a and my plan b if needed. I look forward to the trail in the morning. It comes out at the lake where there is a concrete retaining wall that has a walk way on the side of it so you can walk the length of it, I would say 1/4-1/2 of a mile long. I haven't decided how far I will go out on it. I know I will go at least a bit of it to get photos- might walk the whole thing - we shall see.

While I walked I also thought of places closer to home that I could find to walk that could add beauty to my life. And I have a few hikes that I am hoping to be able to take my granddaughter on.

Learning new things, driving a different way to get somewhere just to see new country side, finding new walking trails, stopping by that nursery you have been wanting to check out, checking out the new grocery store that runs things just a bit differently than you are used to, these are just a few
things that could help ease you out of your comfort zone and help you grow.