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Hey! As you're reading this, I am on a small vacation in a new city in a new state. And hopefully, enjoying a lot.
I'll be honest, I'm not much of a traveler. My family did not go travelling much and I also picked hobbies that let me stay at home. But now that I have some freedom (and the budget, lol) to travel, I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zones.
All of us need pushing in every area of our lives. Be it in our personal lives, careers, or hobbies. There is so much to try and learn. And I firmly believe that life-changing experiences occur just out of our comfort zones. We don't have to go too far. We just have to keep going.
There are several videos and quotes from successful people about going out of comfort zones. Generally, they talk about making great leaps. They say: aim for a marathon! Write an entire book! Start a company! Change the world! Basically, aim very high.
That is terrifying. Maybe you're a great person with more confidence than nervousness and hence are able to set big aims easily. But I am definitely not like that and I know that I'm not alone.
Some of us would rather step gingerly out of our comfort zones rather than leap out of it. And that is completely valid. As long as we are growing and heading in a good direction, we're good. There is so much that we can accomplish by going step-by-step.
The media—and advice in general—is saturated with quotes like "aim big" and "shoot for the starts". Setting aside the general misconception that everyone needs a very big goal to work towards, **there is simply not enough appreciation for the small wins.**Small goals are never considered to be worth it. They always have to be part of a big goal.
What if I say that my next goal for my blog is to get 10 followers this month? Just ten. Not a hundred or a thousand. Ten. Be honest with me, do you consider it a worthy enough goal? Even if I say that 10 followers is twice my usual new follower count, 10 feels like a small goal. It feels like it should be a part of a bigger goal.
And I HATE that. I find myself judging goals too and have to remind myself that any goal is valid. There is no goal that is not a "worthy goal." I feel like the media and general society put so much pressure on us to be geniuses that we forget to let ourselves off the hook.
The one area of our lives where we do NOT need to aim big is our hobbies. Especially if the hobby is any kind of creation. Be it art, writing, knitting, singing, or whatever else.
I have a LOT of thoughts about the current hobby hustling culture but this is one part of it. People expect that if you like something and are good at it, you should aim high and "make something out of it." Here's an excerpt from the book Keep Going by Austin Kleon that explains this well:
"Here’s a contemporary cultural phenomenon that drives me crazy. You have a friend who knits beautiful scarves. Knitting is what he does to clear his mind and pass the time on his long train commute. You have another friend who loves to bake cakes. Baking is what she does on nights and weekends to unwind after working at her stressful corporate job.
All three of you attend a birthday party. Your knitter friend gives the birthday girl the scarf he recently finished. It’s absolutely beautiful. What’s the standard reaction these days? “You could sell this on Etsy!”
After the birthday girl opens her gifts, your baker friend serves her cake. Everyone is moaning in delight. What do they all say? “You could start a bakery!”
We’re now trained to heap praise on our loved ones by using market terminology. The minute anybody shows any talent for anything, we suggest they turn it into a profession. This is our best compliment: telling somebody they’re so good at what they love to do they could make money at it."
You absolutely do NOT have to do any of that if you don't want to. It is alright even if you don't consider it at all. You don't have to dream big for small hobbies that make you happy.
If you are good at knitting, you can aim to only try a new piece. If you like to bake, you can aim to only try a new recipe. That one will lead to another and so on. You don't have to aim high from the beginning to change your life. It will happen anyway.