When Our Boundaries Are Stretched

I recently ran across a photo a high-school classmate had posted up of a beach somewhere in Florida. It reminded me of a trip that a group of us took during my senior year. A handful of us took a trip to the Orlando area. While were there we visited Disney/Epcot, Cocoa Beach, and we went to see a shuttle not launch. That’s right, we sat in a bus for several hours in early March to see a shuttle launch that didn’t happen.  I think we all were slightly disappointed we didn’t get to see a shuttle launch, but we still had an awesome time.

One of the things that made the trip enjoyable and a growing experience was for that few days, many of our barriers were down. We were in a different environment than we were accustomed. We were focused on a common activity and more or less we had similar goals for the time. This is one of the times I was stretched outside my comfort zone and my perceptions of the world were challenged.

Being stretched, placed outside our comfort zone, and challenging our preconceived notions of how the world works are all part of becoming educated. It is easier to stay stuck in a particular mindset and to keep doing things the way we have always done them. It is easier to do things that we have already learned how to do. The problem comes when what we have done before doesn’t work anymore. Sometimes, if we keep holding on to old patterns it makes inevitable change all the more painful for us.

I frequently see students that tell me something like, “How can they expect us to learn this, we haven’t done it before.” I just have to laugh inside when I hear that. Of course they haven’t done it before, that is why it is learning.

I hadn’t taken a trip to Florida before. I hadn’t spent 90 or so hours in a row without interruption around peers from high school. Because it was new, I learned. Because I let go of some of my old thinking, I learned. I learned that those peers were more like me than I had thought. My boundaries were stretched. I went back to my high school a few days later and couldn’t see things the same anymore. Thanks to those that stretched me.