When was the last time you felt out of your depth?

For me as a uni student, it’s … well, pretty often, actually. I find that when I’m sitting in a lecture learning something, I can sometimes get a little bewildered. ‘Holy shit,’ I think to myself. ‘Is everyone else just casually understanding this like it’s no big deal? What’s wrong with me?’ I then get anxious and worry that I’m going to fall behind, and no amount of extra reading seems to help with wrapping my head around some concepts initially. But then as the lectures progress, it all ends up making sense, fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle – and then when exam time comes around, it’s no longer a problem. This happens to me EVERY semester, and yet even though it always works out in the end, I can’t stop myself panicking in the short-term.

The thing is, it’s also quite exhilarating. Stressful, but exhilarating. It’s like the process of learning is truly happening, and there’s a huge sense of accomplishment that comes with it. I used to cruise through everything, never really leaving the old ‘comfort zone’, and now that I have, I find that it’s helped me face up to other areas of life. Things like working out, going to the movies alone, trying new things like multi-day hikes, stuff that I wouldn’t have had the confidence to attempt five years ago.

So my advice to everyone is to get the fuck out of your comfort zone! It doesn’t have to be huge like rock climbing, for some people it could be as nerve-wracking as picking up the phone and calling someone for a phone conversation instead of an email or text. The little actions are where it starts, and the more we get used to being in that borderline panic state, the more open we are to attempting bigger and scarier things.

Off you go then.

Love, Akika xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxox