Lately I’ve been trying to introduce myself to small ways of practicing getting outside of my comfort zone. Trying things that feel awkward or strange, but learning how to do it anyway. Learning how to feel comfortable while doing it.
So today I give you a giant list of exercises and ways to get outside of your comfort zone, get weird, and embrace some of that craziness inside of you.
If you’re someone who struggles with fear, self consciousness, and dealing with the opinions of others, this is for you. This will help you desensitize yourself to their opinions and feel comfortable in your own skin.
All of these are safe for you and others. You will not get hurt trying any of these. There is nothing violent or aggressive. This is about getting outside of your comfort zone in healthy ways.
Some are more difficult or extreme than others, and these are not listed in any particular order. I merely freestyled this as I went. Feel free to create your own along the way.
Here we go 🙂
- Public speaking
- Stand up Comedy
- Live improv
- Freestyle rap
- Lead a group workshop/teach a class
- Approach someone you are attracted to
- Approach a stranger and strike up a conversation with them
- Approach a stranger and ask them to play rock paper scissor
- Approach a stranger and ask them to freestyle rap battle you
- Approach a stranger and ask them to dance with you
- Dance in public all alone
- Dance while walking down the street
- Sing in public
- Approach a stranger and ask them to sing with you
- Dance and sing at the same time in public!
- Make weird noises
- Make weird voices and create characters
- Pretend to be a baby/child
- Get weird at the snap of a finger
- Yell as loud as you can
- Make loud strange noises in a crowded public place
- Lie in the middle of the floor in a crowded place
- Roll around on the floor
- Pretend you’re a fish out of water flopping around on the floor
- Try to laugh on command
- Try to cry on command
- Try to get angry on command
- Try to speak to someone in a foreign language
- Speak to someone who speaks a language you don’t understand with only hand gestures
- Travel somewhere new
- Travel somewhere new…alone
- Travel somewhere slightly dangerous. Safe but with a certain edginess to it.
- Sit alone in silence without moving for an hour
- Complete a 10 day Vipassana Meditation retreat
- Introduce yourself in a crowded elevator
- Sit with a snake and let it slither all around your body
- Eat strange foods like bugs or live octopus
- Cook something you’ve never tried to cook before
- Drink weird beverages like snake blood
- Eat/Drink a psychedelic of some kind
- Go to a concert/dance festival by yourself
- Go out and get shiftfaced by yourself and chat people up all night
- Go out by yourself and chat people up all night stone cold sober
- Become a street performer and put a hat out to collect money
- Spend an hour alone with twenty five 7 year old children
- Eat a heavy dosage of a marijuana edible
- Ask to sit first class on your flight without paying for it
- Ask for free coffee at Starbucks because you’re a good person
- Imagine you are Buddha and treat everyone you meet with as much love and compassion as you can
- Make all of your decisions for a day by the roll of a dice
- Do something that is outside of your normal sexual comfort zone – this has a wide spectrum so I’ll let you decide
- Have someone whip you/inflict pain on you
- Hug someone and hold it for 30 seconds
- Stare into someones eyes for 1 minute straight
- Jump into a mosh pit
- Ask all of your closest friends and family members to roast you and insult you
- Become an actor/actress – pick a character and do your best to enact it
- Do karate in your room and kick and punch like you’re in a video game
- Take cold showers/jump into a freezing cold lake
- Sit in a sauna for 30 minutes
- Run at full speed for as long as you can
- Do as many pushups/pullups/situps/squats as you can
- Try a new workout you’ve never done before
- Get into the boxing ring/octagon and spar with someone
- Wake up earlier than you normally do for 90 days straight
- Wear strange clothing in public
- Wear a sunga/speedo to the beach
- Pretend it’s halloween and wear a costume one day
- Roll around in the mud/dirt
- Get naked in front of someone
- Have an art class paint you while you’re naked
- Have someone cover you in body paint
- If you’re a straight man – pretend to be flamboyantly gay. Be as feminine as you can. – If you’re a woman – be as masculine as you can.
- If you’re a man – dress as a woman. – If you’re a woman – dress as a man.
- Be a stripper with a live audience
- Eat nothing but rice and beans for a week
- Eat Kimchi
- Do intermittent fasting for 18 hours a day
- Do an extended fast of 3-5 days (responsibly!)
- Extreme sports of any kind
- Skydiving
- Bungee jumping
- Paragliding
- Parasailing
- Hang Gliding
- Rock Climb
- Slackline/Highline
- Mountain Bike
- Skiing/Snowboarding
- Waterski
- Kite surfing
- Repelling
- Scuba Diving
- Create an overly long list like this to stretch the capacity of your mind.
- Anything that was ever shown on the show Fear Factor
- Start a business
- Gamble an excessively large amount of money
- Learn how to do something you’ve never done before
- Try to email and get in contact with your top 10 life heroes.
- Go to New Delhi, India
- Try the salt-water colon flush
- Try Rapé
- Post pictures and videos of yourself on social media when you look your worst
- Make a video of yourself doing nothing but staring into the camera and breathing
- Try Troy-Chi
- Say NO to something you normally say yes to, even if that means confrontation
- Embrace a confrontation you’ve been avoiding
- Think about the most traumatic memory you’ve had in life and try to be grateful for it
- Forgive someone who has wronged you
- Write a love letter to every member of your friends and family
- Share a secret with someone
- Fall in love
- Sell everything and travel the world indefinitely
Enjoy! 🙂
My only humble request – if you try any of these and get it on camera, please tag me on instagram @troyerstling. I want to quietly start a revolution of people looking to get outside of their comfort zone, and if you’ve made it this far in the article, I have faith you have what it takes to embrace these comfort zone challenges for the world to see.
