Laura Tucker

Photographer, Writer, Podcast Host

comfort zone

The Zion Subway – Lessons From A Trip Outside The Comfort Zone

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We were at a crossroads in The Subway.  We could either try to climb out without the trail, or stay within our comfort zone and re-trace our steps.  I was not comforted by either option…

Memories of a day I took a journey outside my comfort zone washed over me while I scrolled through my Instagram feed.  A friend had shared a photo from his recent trip to Utah.  I was transported by the memory of the day I hiked The Subway in the back country of Zion National Park with my friend Beth.

The Subway is a canyon that requires an advance wilderness permit.  I had never heard or seen anything about it until a print on display in the lobby of the Zion Park Lodge had me all agog.  Upon learning that they gave out any unreserved passes the afternoon before, Beth and I canceled another hike and lined up at the appointed time.  We were among six people who were granted passes for the next day.

The hike to the Subway begins with a 400 foot zigzag descent into the canyon, ending at the stream bed of the Left Fork of North Creek.  One you arrive at the stream bed, the hike up into the canyon begins.

While not exceptionally technical, it’s a long hike, especially when loaded up, or should I say down, with photography equipment.  The few images I had seen gave few clues as to the size or scale of the Subway, so I packed every combination of lens.  They were definitely long exposure, so my tripod hung from my overstuffed knapsack.  With the weight of the equipment and repeated stops to photograph the canyon, it took us much longer to reach our destination than anticipated.

Our destination was the dramatic lower Subway, a short section of the canyon where the walls come so close together that over the millennia water from flash floods and spring runoff from the north has carved an oval shaped tube in the stone.  The light from the mid-day sun enters the narrow canyon at the top.  The light refracting on the curved walls of the tube creates an other-worldly effect.

Before getting in to our creative zone, we had to assess our remaining hours, lest we get carried away and lose track of time.  Our hike in had taken almost two hours longer than we had anticipated.  Calculating backwards from the October sunset, we were forced to acknowledge that we’d have no longer than half an hour before we would have to retrace our steps.

I worked as quickly as I could with my film and digital cameras.  As so little sunlight penetrates that deeply into the canyon, it was unexpectedly cold.  My hands and feet moved slowly.  I implored the photo gods that the results would be worth the effort.  After the half hour had passed, I reluctantly packed up my bag and walked out of the relative darkness into the remains of the day.

It was on the way out of the canyon that things started to go sideways.  With the light diminishing faster than anticipated, my friend and I missed a turn while ascending the canyon wall.  We didn’t realize we were lost until we were staring at a nearly sheer incline sprinkled with occasional tree roots and protruding rocks.  This was not the path we were looking for.

We were at a crossroads.  We could either try to climb out without the trail, or stay within our comfort zone and re-trace our steps.  I was not comforted by either option.

We were ten hours into our hike.  My body was throbbing from head to toe with exhaustion. Dust permeated my clothes and hair.  I could feel it in my eyes and between my teeth.  All I wanted was to put down my pack and rest, but there was no time.  Without the sunlight to guide us, we would be trapped overnight in a canyon without supplies, and an abundance of coyotes, scorpions and snakes.   The fear was real.  I began a stream of consciousness laden with expletives followed by a stream of tears.

Fortunately Beth had more experience and patience in that moment than me.  As much as I wanted to power through and get it over with by sticking to our current route, I conceded that a counter intuitive retreat was likely to bring a much better result.  With reluctance, I slid down the canyon on my butt, picking up more sand in the process.  I was embarrassed by my emotional display, but took some consolation that my eyes had been flushed clean by the downpour.

We eventually found the trail and finished the last half mile running.  My oversized pack pounded me from behind and my eyes felt like they were rolling back into my head.  The sight of our rental car was enough to bring on another round of tears.  This time the tears flowed with relief and gratitude.

As depleted as I was, the first thing I did when I got back to my hotel room wasn’t take a hot shower or find food.  I popped my camera’s memory card into its reader, and took a first look at the spoils of the day.

Then I smiled.

 

The Subway Zion National Park

 

My day in The Subway is now a fond memory, interlaced with lessons that extend to every day life:

  1. Lighten your baggage.  It slows you down.
  2. Sometimes you have to take a step back to see the best way forward.
  3. There is always a price for the prize.

Lost in the memory while perusing Instagram, I felt the call of the desert and deep gratitude for what my creative outlet has taught me about life.

5 Myths About Your Comfort Zone

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Your comfort zone has become a cliche. And just like most other cliches, there are truths at its core.  But there are  myths floating around about the comfort zone.

Have you heard one of these statements about your comfort zone?

Bigger, better results lie just outside your comfort zone.

Everything you want lies just outside your comfort zone. 

If you’re not growing, you are dying.

You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

 

Myth #1 – There is something wrong with you if you experience fear

Fear is a part of the process of growth.  Most of the time, it’s normal and healthy.

When you leave your comfort zone, it creates an inner conflict that activates your body’s fight or flight response. Your body starts to talk.  Label it what you want – fear, anticipation, excitement – but don’t disregard it. Don’t train yourself to ignore it.

One of the benefits of doing inner work is to strengthen the connection between your conscious mind and your body.

Disregarding your fears disconnects you from the wisdom of your body. Instead of suppressing your fears, learn to feel the fear, and choose to play anyway.

Myth #2 – It’s not worth doing if you can’t do it right

Do you compare yourself to other people and their results?  Of course you do, it’s human nature.

When learning, be conscious when you compare.  Comparing yourself to someone who is more masterful can have two opposite effects:

  1. It inspires you.
  2. It discourages you.

There will always be someone ahead of you on the journey.  The combination of seeking perfection and comparing yourself to others can kill your creativity.

No one is an expert the first time they do anything.  Even virtuosos have to practice their innate skill.  Stop being so hard on yourself and ask yourself this question:  Are you really making mistakes, or are you on the road to mastery?

Myth #3 – Having a breakthrough means you’ll never have to deal with that limiting belief again.

“I thought I had dealt with this already.  What is wrong with me?!?”

I hear these words over and over again. Stop beating yourself up because you thought you had fixed that part of you.

First of all, it wasn’t broken to begin with.  Your patterns are your patterns.  Becoming aware of your patterns is where growth and wisdom are found.

Personal growth is cyclical.  Expect to be triggered when you stretch the limits of what’s comfortable.

Personal growth is cyclical. Expect to be triggered when you stretch your comfort zone. Click to Tweet

If you get outside of your comfort zone on a regular basis, you’re going to run into your patterns of belief a lot.

Myth #4 – Failure isn’t an option

There’s a big difference between “failure is not an option”, and “giving up is not an option”.

Failure is always an option. Experiments fail.  Even the most successful people don’t get the results they’re looking for all of the time.

When you combine failure and giving up as not being options, you risk committing all of your energy to something that’s not working!

Allow yourself to fail a little every day. Learn to evaluate and adjust your course.

Listen to Five Myths and Three Antidotes for Your Comfort Zone on the Free Your Inner Guru Podcast

Myth #5 – Your fear will be replaced with courage

In 2005, I packed up all of my belongings and moved across the country.  I had enough business to keep me going for a while, but I had no idea if it was going to be sustainable.  While I was in the midst of all the effort it took to realize my dream, people kept telling me how brave I was.  Trust me; that’s not how I was feeling.

I felt purposeful, but I didn’t feel brave.  If I had started thinking I was brave, I probably would’ve changed my mind, played safe and missed out on some of the best years of my life so far.

Courage doesn’t happen from the sidelines of your life.  If there’s something you want and you’re sitting around waiting to feel courageous before you take action,  you might be waiting forever.

Forever is a long time to wait.

Sunrise and The Inner Critic

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The year was 2004. On a hunch that can only be described as divine inspiration, I drove for two days from Toronto to Kingston, New Brunswick.

I was about to attend my first workshop of any kind, led by the Canadian photography icon, Freeman Patterson.

When I arrived, I was surprised to discover I was one of the youngest in the group, and the newest to photography.  I was still grappling with the technical side, trying to understand how to get the best results out of the tools that I had. An avid learner, I soaked up as much of the visual design principles Freeman taught and did my best to apply them through the lens of my camera.

Each day, we would be given a deadline to hand in our film from the past 24 hours. Each roll of slide film contained thirty-six images. Most of the participants would turn in 8-10 rolls of film each day, but I’d be lucky to have half that quantity to show for my efforts.

As we handed off our newest images, we’d then given the processed slides from the previous day’s shooting. Editing and selection was done at long light tables that ran the perimeter of the room. The goal was to choose three images for critique in front of the group.

On this particular day, I had a batch of images from a sunrise shoot down by the water. I sorted through the slides, and was devastated by what I saw. They were much darker than I had intended, and did not show the sunrise the way I remembered experiencing it. My inner critic was relentless, berating me with what it perceived as failure. “Shit, shit, shit…” it said, as I looked at each image for the first time. Head hung low, I gathered up all of the sunrise photos from the table and added them to my reject pile. After a time, I picked up the rejects and threw them in the trash can.

About a half an hour later, one of the women in the group approached me at the table. In her hands, she had one slide. “I’d like you to take another look at this one,” she said as she placed one of my slides from the trash can in front of me on the table.

I bit back tears, feeling embarrassed by how emotional all this stuff made me. I had never put myself “out there” or cared so much about my results before. Uncertain, I gazed at the image through the loupe and then looked up at her and exclaimed, “But it’s not what I was going for!”

Her reply stopped me in my tracks, “The rest of us don’t know that. Look at it again.” She suggested that I include the image in my three picks of the day.  I didn’t want to be rude or reject her encouragement, so I submitted it for that day’s session.

When the image was projected on the wall in total darkness, it was as if I had never seen it before. There was an audible gasp in the room. The concern that the trees had gone to black belonged to me alone. Everyone else saw it as a silhouette and thought that it was perfectly exposed for the clouds and the raindrops on the water. The composition received praise, and the group agreed the photo evoked the spirit of the place it was taken. In that moment, my awareness was expanded, and a new understanding of what makes a good image was born in my mind.

Sunrise and the Inner Critic - Laura Tucker

This sunrise image is one of my all-time favorites for what it represents for me. It was fun to show it last week to another group of creatives and see that it and the story of how it was retrieved from the trash stood up to the test of time.

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