Why Ditching Your Comfort Zone Before 25 Will Be The Best Gift To Yourself

In my opinion, finding your soulmate in your 20s is so overrated. This should be the decade that you go after adventure. For one, it always leaves you with an amazing story to tell — and one day, when you're on the best first date ever, you'll want to make sure you have at least one unreal experience to share. You grow out of those memories you made in high school (or even college) that still make you laugh sometimes, and so it's time to make new ones.

It's almost no surprise that if you're feeling stuck, your life is seriously lacking this one thing. Getting out of your comfort zone and finding adventure kind of go hand-in-hand, but it doesn't always mean taking a trip across the world. Sure, maybe you do travel and spend some time in a new place. But, you can also find everything you're looking for in your backyard with your besties.

Your comfort zone is full of the things you like and the people who will be in your life forever. But, when you go beyond it, you tend to try new things and broaden your horizons a bit. You might discover that you love seafood, or that extreme sports aren't actually that scary. And suddenly, you've found a new passion or set of interests to pursue. Does your life feel brighter, yet?

When we try new things, we also become more open-minded. Being able to say "yes" to almost anything before turning 25 is so important, especially if you're feeling stuck. You'll find that more doors open than they close, and that having an optimistic mindset can launch you into amazing things in life.

If you're feeling beyond stuck, a change of perspective might simply be the thing you need most. You don't have to wander far to change your mindset on life, and look at it all with a new lens. It's amazing how just noticing the little things in your usual space can make you feel like you're in entirely different surroundings.

Truth is, when you get out of your comfort zone, you tend to start seeing things differently. The world gets a lot bigger, and suddenly your problems get a whole lot smaller. You learn what you want to prioritize then, because the things you once thought were so important might not mean too much anymore.

We should always be editing our life and cutting out the things that are holding us back from being our best selves. A new perspective will tell us just what we value and what can probably be kicked to the curb.

Beyond your comfort zone, there are so many best friends who are waiting for you to find them. These are the people who are truly passionate about the same things as you, and can inspire you to get out of your rut and do something about them in the real world. But, until you start wandering past your personal borders, you'll never pursue those social circles and all the opportunities they come with.

You see, adventure has a way of bringing people together in the most unusual circumstances. When you're running through metro stations in Milan because your train leaves in two minutes (yup, this happened to me) and asking locals for advice, you're making connections and finding yourself a whole new crew without even trying. Turning 25 means you still want to get social and pack your life with the best people.

Trying new things all the time means that you also discover what you don't like in this life. Something that somebody's passionate about might be your worst nightmare — but, the key is to at least try it so that you can figure that out from an experienced stance.

Maybe when you're traveling, you realize that you don't particularly love a popular food in one place, or how at home you live by such a routine. Learning what you don't agree with will help you make the necessary changes you need to always be living a little out of your comfort zone. Odds are, there are a lot of things you do every day that are making you feel so stuck, but you just don't know what they are until you open your mind to what else is out there. Discovering what you don't like helps you create a life of only what you do.

Trusting yourself isn't as easy as it sounds. And when you get out of your comfort zone, you learn what it's really all about. We all have a sense of intuition, but listening to it is the problem we run into, especially when we're feeling stuck. We'll so easily let ourselves settle and listen to what other people think our lives should be — and then immediately cringe, because our gut is telling us that's not quite what we had in mind for ourselves.

Being able to take the leap is something few are able to do, because the world has a way of putting us in fear that it won't work out. Getting out of your comfort zone and just trying to follow your own two feet puts you absolutely in control and gives you much-needed confidence along the way. Everything you've been dreaming of is possible if you learn to let your inner light take the lead.

When all is said and done, getting out of your comfort zone leaves you with the best gift before turning 25 — yourself. Finding yourself is probably the cheesiest line in the book, and if you're 20-something, you might just think it's about a whole lot of meaningless soul-searching. Truth is, it's a whole lot more than traveling solo and letting your mind wander in coffee shops until you find a spark. And when you let yourself go into the unexpected with everything you got, you come out changed for the better.

You learn what you want and what makes your heart race. You'll find new passions and people to share them with, and stop worrying about whether or not you're living life or just existing in it. So, if you're feeling oh-so-stuck, I hope you leave behind your comfort zone and find a whole new side of life. Turning 25 means you get to give yourself the best gift. So, what are you waiting for?