Kat Thorne: Welcome to the Positive Habits podcast. I'm your host Kat Thorn and I am back today with a 10 minute solo episode. There are so many different things that I want to talk about on this podcast, but one that has been coming up again and again recently and one that I'm really excited to talk about today is comfort zones and stepping out of those comfort zones and what happens when we do and what happens when we don't. Those of you who've been listening for a while or if you're just listening for the first time, welcome. I have a big passion for stepping outside my comfort zone because I have learned over the years that that is where so much untapped potential sits. It's where we can learn so much about ourselves. We can really advance our lives both personally and professionally. But yet as human beings, are designed to stay safe, to stay in our comfort zones. And it's something that I talk about a lot on this podcast, but also a lot in my talks and the work I do with helping teams around the world to make once more positive habit change. Now, some of you may already know that I'm part of this incredible initiative plunge and one of the Parts of that initiative is Women Who Plunge, which is a seed-dipping group that I facilitate on a Sunday at 8am in the morning. And we meet every week. We are growing week on week. We started off, there were four of us, in August 2025. And at the time of this recording, in March 2026, we have between 40 and 60 women showing up every single week. and I think the record we've had is 83 women. So we're growing and often people say to me either people that are walking by when we're getting in the sea in the morning or you know they might see a social media post that I've done about it and they say oh but I don't like the cold and I think to myself, nor do I. and an order most of the people who are part of this incredibly powerful community. And then I think, why is it that I think about all the other things that I don't feel like doing but do because I know in the moment they might not necessarily be things like I feel like doing or things that I necessarily want to do, but they are things that are helping me to become the person that I want to become. They're helping me to create the goals. and the dreams and ultimately build the life that I dream about, the life that is one that I'm proud to be living, the one that makes me feel incredible. So when people talk about how they don't like the cold in this particular context, I really think it's really important that we challenge those thoughts and ask ourselves, why we feel like that and understand that that's a completely typical, a normal reaction for the brain. It doesn't like to be uncomfortable and let me tell you, going into the English sea at 8am on a Sunday morning is not an easy thing to do, which is why we have a community, which is why it is much easier to do it because there's lots of us, we're holding each other accountable, we're supporting each other. yesterday was one of our weekly sea dips and we had somebody who was new and I walked in the water with them. We always enter the water together and I swam over to them and helped them to get into the water fully, especially the shoulders, which can be one of the most difficult parts of getting into cold water, but also really important part. They sent me a really lovely message after just saying thank you for, this was actually one of our regular members who said thank you so much for helping my auntie get in the water. I just think that we are so used to operating in a comfort zone that I was made reminded of this recently when I was traveling to this incredible event in Marrakesh and Morocco. So I spoke at an international women's leadership event. in a PBSA industry, which is purpose-built student accommodation. just everything about that trip from the moment that I landed in Marrakesh, navigating the travel and the different languages, different food, different cultures, all of these different women from different environments, different ages, different perceptions. All of that is pushing you out of your comfort zone and traveling is one of the most incredible experiences because it is pushing you out of your comfort zone. And for me, cold water and other positive habits are pushing us out of our comfort zone. So if you find yourself saying, I don't like this, I don't like being cold or a variation of that, it's a really good opportunity to just be a bit curious about that and say, well, probably other people don't like it either, but why would you do it? And really look into some of the benefits of these things. And I watched a video the other day and it was a guy talking about how you can rewire your brain to do things that it doesn't want to do. And essentially it was that good old slogan of just do it, like do the things that you don't feel like doing. And obviously I'm saying this within context. things that ultimately are good for you. That's what I'm talking about here. What I have found about stepping outside of your comfort zone is that you are sending your brain really powerful messages, which is you can do hard things and you can do hard things when you don't feel like it. And that's where real change happens. And it isn't about doing something huge. It can be about doing something quite small, but when you do those things regularly, you give your brain evidence and that evidence turns into confidence. And that's what I really love about this, that your comfort zone never disappears. I think what happens though is even though you will still have this challenge of overcoming. things in your life that you don't feel like doing in the moment, it becomes easier because it's like anything, what you practice becomes easier. And so that's how these small steps start to stretch you over time. So if you feel stressed or overwhelmed or perhaps stuck somewhere in your life, I think it's really good to ask not what big change do I need to make? But what's one small thing I could do to step outside of my comfort zone? And one of the things I think people don't realize when you do the kind of thing that I do for work is I'm regularly being pushed outside of my comfort zone and I'm putting myself in situations which are uncomfortable. And that doesn't always feel good in the moment, but I always leave those events or those situations feeling that I have grown, feeling that I have learned. And this is where one small habit is so powerful in terms of helping us increase our performance at work, at home. So I think For me, the cold water is such a good analogy of this. I don't know hardly anyone who loves cold water, especially cold showers, getting in the sea, but the feeling you get after you've put yourself out of your comfort zone, even if it was just a 30 second cold shower. And I would really encourage you to try that. mean, Wim Hof says even healthy people should be taking cold showers. So what's one thing you could do today to step out of your comfort zone so you can really grow? And I'll tell you something just before I wrap up the end of this episode. For me, pushing myself out of my comfort zone and doing positive habits that don't always feel good in the moment has given me the most incredible confidence ⁓ and unwavering feeling that I can just do anything and I continue to make really difficult decisions in my life so that I am building the life that I truly deserve, but also the one that I really, really love and I'm excited to wake up for. Thank you for listening and I will see you on the next one.