I’ve been pushing outside of my comfort zone and challenging myself recently with some new ideas and projects, and it’s really got me thinking about what lies outside of our comfort zone and why as adults we’re often reluctant to go there.

Small children have a fantastic attitude to life: Don’t know how to do something? Stick your hand up and ask. Want to make a new friend? Introduce yourself. Offered the chance to do something new? Do it. Children instinctively understand that Things I Haven’t Tried Yet does not equate with Things I Cannot Do.

Is there a tipping point where the lure of what is comfortable and familiar outweighs the excitement of the unknown? Or is it that fear of failure or judgement overrides our innate sense of adventure? The question is when this happens, not whether, because as we get older our desire for more experiences, more stimulation, more challenges, more fun dwindles. We move more and more towards a life lived in our comfort zone. I’m not in any way advocating the abolition of comfort – a wet Sunday spent on the sofa is a splendid thing – but…

In the latest episode of her Happy Place podcast Fearne Cotton talked to Billy Monger, a racing driver who lost both his legs in a Formula 4 crash at Donington. She asked how on earth he’d had the courage to get back in a car again (Billy raced again less than 12 months after his crash and came second – it’s an astounding story – you should listen!), and shared the fact that she has a panic attack if she has to drive on motorways and hasn’t driven on one for three years. Avoiding what makes you anxious is a tempting way to cope with anxiety. We all do it, even if we don’t have a diagnosable anxiety disorder. If we have a comfort zone then we all have a discomfort zone, and who on earth wants to go there?!

But I think there are two different types of discomfort zone. One is a horrible place of agonising psychological torture. Let’s call it our no-go zone. The other is an area in between and that’s the zone that we need to reclaim – our challenge zone.

Now if you’re in a place where your no-go zone is right outside your front door (literally or metaphorically) you are not in the right mental space at the moment to explore your challenge zone. I’ve been there and it took therapy, medication, support and time to find a little space outside my comfort zone that I could start to explore. Over months and years that’s expanded and now it stretches for miles, but it hasn’t been a linear progression. Many times I’ve been sent scurrying back to safety by a minor happening. But what I’ve learned is that being afraid won’t protect you from the thing you fear. The fear just gets bigger.

If you’re in a good place at the moment then what are you waiting for? Pull up your socks and jump right in. Learn something new, go somewhere different, swim in a river, climb a big hill, stand on the top and sing! Do something that you’re not sure you can do, something that scares you a little bit. Never let anyone tell you you can’t just because you haven’t tried yet, because as any seven year old will tell you, Things You Haven’t Tried Yet does not equate with Things You Cannot Do.