Out of my Comfort Zone

I like my comfort zone. Of course I do, it's comfy. But I do feel like I'm in danger of becoming... too comfortable. A one trick pony. People think they know me because of what I write. People think that I spend my days doing nothing but writing about dresses and shoes and cake. And y'know, on the outside, they'd be right. Someone actually called me shallow last week.

There's nothing wrong with the stuff I write. I love Domestic Sluttery. I love writing about travel and London and property. I'm lucky to have a great client base. I chose them after all. There really isn't a part of my day that I don't enjoy. But just because that's what I do every day, that doesn't mean that it's the only thing I can do. I can write. I can write about what I like. I can do whatever the hell I feel like. Just to see if I can do it.

I'm not sure I 'chose' being freelance. Not like some of the writers I knew. A freelance job came up and I took it. Then I was left with two options: Get more freelancing work, or go back into sales. I got more work. I didn't choose the freelance option, it kinda chose me. But I did choose to write. The luxury of being freelance means that I get to choose what I write about. And I forget that sometimes.

I get to choose my career path.

So this week, I've been researching and writing a piece about education and disability. In Eritrea. The piece is for a Guardian competition. I think those of you who know what I usually write about will be confused by this. The cynics amongst you, might have even laughed. But I lived in China teaching English, my friend taught in Eritrea for a good few years. And despite not writing about stuff like that, I still care about it. Nothing has mad me bash at a keyboard quite like that first draft. Even M@, who supports whatever it is I'm doing, had to ask me if it wasn't too far removed from what I do. It's not. It's just different.

I'm not bored. Not at all. But I've realised that there's no reason why I can't write whatever I want. It's difficult. But I like that. Why shouldn't I write about something across the other side of the world? Because I also write about cupcakes? Because I like dresses? Because I've launched my own business? It doesn't make sense. It's easy to let people's perceptions of you define your own.

I'm not going to suddenly upsticks and go all Kate Adie on you. I love my job, and I have great clients. But I also have other interests. And I want to write about them sometimes. There's no reason why I can't. Even if I just write about them here, they're still important. It's not about proving to other people that I can write about something different (although I think being flexible is important in freelance work, there's no harm in showing that), this is for me. Because there's stuff I want to do. There's stuff that I want to write about. And there's no reason why I shouldn't. I don't want to watch other people doing the stuff I think I'd enjoy. I want to do it.

So this week, I've been living out of my comfort zone. I've been welcoming new topics from clients, rather than sticking to the norm (sci-fi festival, anyone?). I've been pitching potential new clients really big ideas. I've started the ball rolling on a brand new business idea. And I've been writing about things no one expects me to. I've had the most exciting freelance week since... I can't remember when. It's been so much fun, because it's been different. Sometimes you spend your days making sure you get all of your tasks done for all of your clients. Ticking things off a to-do list. And you don't do anything else. I want to change that. I want to live out of my comfort zone a little bit more. I've started adding crazy things to my to-do list. And I'm doing them.

I don't know what that means for my work in the longrun (or what I'll do when all these things start becoming the norm) but doing something different, doing something just to see if I can, or to see what happens, is really exciting.

It's the most damn fun I've had in ages. And I'm working better because of it. Better still? I'm doing it all with a smile.

I think I like it outside my comfort zone. The view is a little different. Different is good. Different is exciting.

Flickr image from kainr's photostream.