20 Oct Stepping outside your comfort zone
I purposely moved to England because I’m not used to it. Having lived somewhere as cosmopolitan and international as Dubai for most of my life, I naturally feel safer in a more multi-cultural space. It is what I have to come to understand.
But we all need to step outside of our comfort zone and experience new things – it’s what gives us strength of character.
But there’s a fine line between stepping out of your comfort zone and maintaining a feeling of safety at the same time. Realistically, you need to be able to do both simultaneously. But it’s not that simple! Our anxieties often get the better of us and end up taking over that bout of confidence that inspires us to try new things, and then we become misaligned.
That’s why I always talk about EQ being just as important than IQ; training ourselves in emotional intelligence as well as intelligence. We go to school, go to university and focus on grades and test scores so much that we forget to put in the hours to train ourselves emotionally. Because when you have a high EQ, you can control your anxieties; you can balance your feelings more effectively; and, most importantly, you can strive in areas far outside of your comfort zone.