Breaking Out of my Comfort Zone

I lead a comfortable life, especially in comparison to most throughout the world. But when I describe my life as comfortable, I do not only mean in terms of always having food on the table, a roof over my head, and, in all honesty, having everything and anything my parents were able to provide me. I also mean in terms of always being able to stay within my comfort zone. Many would say I take risks and I suppose I have, yet they were always calculated and studied, and on my terms.


The trip I am about to embark on, a trip of a lifetime, is calculated and studied and planned and organized, in true Julie fashion. (I really like Excel spreadsheets and To Do lists) Yet this trip is to Africa. To three African nations. To learn about prisons there and how one organization can work to make them better. And although I have emailed every possible contact person too many times, made as many arrangements as possible, and created a day by day timeline of the next ten weeks of my life, I cannot truly prepare for this trip. I cannot mentally and emotionally prepare for Africa, let alone prepare myself to tour African prisons and speak with the inmates who lack basic necessities and rights. This trip is not on my terms. And I am working on accepting that.

I can only learn and experience and do my best. I will have to stray from my timelines, deadlines, and to do lists and hand the reigns over to my hosts and the people of Uganda, Kenya, and Sierra Leone to allow them to show me their countries and the struggles they face. I will become okay with that concept, even if it makes me a bit anxious. I will step out of my organized and calculated comfort zone to experience Africa and all of its struggles and all of its beauty.