Playing It Safe?

I enjoy watching singing competition shows like The Voice and American Idol. I appreciate hearing great singers. Additionally, I am often touched by some of the contestants’ life stories.

Earlier this week, I watched the second episode of the current American Idol season. I heard some amazing singers (some not to good ones, too) and a couple of the stories brought me to tears. However, I was particularly inspired by something that Lionel Richie, one of the three judges, said to one contestant after she auditioned.

This young woman sang the song she had selected. She sang it well, but it was not spectacular. Katy Perry, another of the judges, asked if she had another selection she could sing. Of course, she did, and they asked her to sing it. The second song was much better suited for her voice and revealed her talent a way that the first song had not.

When asked why she had chosen not to sing the second song she replied that she was “playing it safe.” Lionel Richie looked at her and said, “Let me tell you something. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” I thought, “What a profound statement of truth!” I later learned that this quote is attributed to author, Neale Donald Walsch.

I wonder how many of us, when feeling called by something deep within, choose to “play it safe” rather than step up to the boundary of our comfort zone and muster the courage to move beyond it.

Our comfort zones seem to provide us with safety and security, but they actually rob us of the fulfillment of life. Our comfort zones can become prisons of our own making. They not only hem us in, they also keep others out. Staying in our comfort zones also deprives the world of the gifts we are here to give.

What if Jesus had decided to stay in his comfort zone? I can just imagine him feeling the call of Spirit urging him to go to John to be baptized in the Jordan River and him saying “Nah, I am comfortable right where I am. I think I’ll just stay at home and learn the carpentry trade. It is what I was born into. It is my lot in life.”

We don’t know. Maybe he did have some of those thoughts. He was, after all, a human being just as we are. I am quite certain that he experienced fears and doubts along the way. Yet, he did not succumb to the desire to “play it safe.” He answered the call. Not only did he answer the call to be baptized, but he answered the call to embody the Christ and be in service to it as he ministered to those in need and taught us all how to embrace our divinity through our humanity.

We often think of Jesus as a superhuman who did not have to muster courage to move beyond his comfort zone, but something tells me that is not true. I can imagine that it was well beyond his comfort zone to go into the wilderness to face his shadow self and that it required great courage to come face-to-face with his inner demons.

Additionally, I can imagine that it was well outside his comfort zone to stand in the presence of the Sadducees and Pharisees and speak truth to power. Yet, he stood with them and spoke the truth knowing that he faced persecution for doing so.

We know from the account of his night in the Garden of Gethsemane that he expressed his fear of the impending crucifixion. Still, he knew that it was what he must do to fulfill his calling and share his final lesson with his followers and all of us who would follow in time.

I am not suggesting that we are all called to live the life experiences that Jesus lived, or that we are to change in the world as dramatically as he did. I am suggesting that we are all called to something greater than we typically know ourselves to be, more than we have experienced, and more expansive than we have allowed ourselves to imagine. If we are drawing breath, there is more for us to be, do and share.

Are we “playing it safe?” If so, why? I know that I “play it safe” for several reasons. I am afraid to fail. I fear being judged. I tell myself I do not know enough. I tell myself I am not good enough. I do not want to get hurt, and I do not want to hurt others. I do not know how. I want to be loved.

In my comfort zone, I tell myself that I cannot fail. No one will judge me. I am good enough at what I know how to do. I will not get hurt. When I look at all of that honestly, I know that none of it is true.

What is true is that in my comfort zone I am robbing myself of the fullness of life that is mine to live, express and enjoy. When I “play it safe,” I condemn myself to the prison of my fear. I am the only one who holds that key that will free me. Additionally, I am depriving the world of the gifts I have to share.

I suspect that you “play it safe” for those and similar reasons. I know that you are robbing yourself of the fullness of life and depriving the world of the fullness of you if you are staying bound in your comfort zone.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Take that in. If you are “playing it safe,” ask yourself what step you can take today. Trust that it is within you. You have the courage. Call upon it. Take that next step into the life that is calling you.