Obliterate Your Comfort Zone: What Travel Taught Me About Fear

There’s a moment right before you do something terrifying when every bone in your body begs you to stop. It’s not just fear…it’s biology. Self-preservation. But on the other side of that feeling? That’s where 100% of the best stories come from.

Some of my most vivid, amazing, and ridiculous travel memories didn’t come from gorgeous sunsets or charming cafés. They came from saying yes to things I had no business saying yes to. Not just stepping outside my comfort zone, but absolutely obliterating it.

The calm before the plunge: the bridge at Victoria Falls. Yes, I jumped off that.

I hate heights. So I bungee jumped off a bridge in Victoria Falls.

There’s a photo somewhere (you’re looking at it) of me standing on the edge of the bridge with the unmistakable look of someone reconsidering every life choice that brought him there. My knees were jelly. My brain screamed not just NOPE but OH HELL NO! The Zambezi River rushed hundreds of feet below. And then…I jumped.

Just a casual moment of facing my absolute fear at Victoria Falls.

Or more accurately…I tipped forward like a fainting goat and gravity did the rest.

The fall was violent and full of adrenaline…and over in a matter of seconds. The bounce back up felt like resurrection. And the laughter…when it finally came (after some mumbles of absolute terror) was wild and euphoric. I didn’t become a “heights guy” or daredevil that day. But I did learn something about fear: it's the Negative Nelly that often stands between you and your best moments.

That’s me in the red helmet, right before the freezing river said hello with a slap.

I went whitewater sledging in New Zealand. In a freezing river. With category 5 rapids.

Sledging is like whitewater rafting, but instead of a raft, you have a glorified kickboard and your body. You’re face down in the water, in a wetsuit and hockey pads, steering with fins, trying not to smash into boulders or get swallowed by standing waves.

I was cold. I was battered. At one point I thought I’d lost a contact lens and part of my soul. And yet? I laughed so hard I swallowed half the river. I high-fived strangers at the end like we’d survived a war together. There’s something super energizing about crashing through chaos and coming out the other side.

I respect sharks. From a distance. Preferably on land.

I scuba dived with sharks. And my worst-case-scenario brain was in full meltdown mode.

The ocean? It’s not my comfort zone. It’s deep and vast and full of sharp-toothed surprises. Scuba diving asks you to accept that you’re not in control…of your breathing, your environment, or your escape route. I have a giant ocean-themed tattoo as a constant reminder that no matter how much of the world you see…there’s ten times more lurking in the ocean depths that will always remain an (often terrifying) mystery.

But on a dive in Fiji, I did it anyway. I saw a shark. Then another. And strangely, I didn’t panic. I just hovered there, suspended in silence, surrounded by an alien world so beautiful it almost managed to quiet the noise in my head. That day, I didn’t conquer fear. I learned to exist alongside it and find peace and amazement.

The only way out is through. And maybe a little downstream.

And Here’s the Thing...

These stories aren’t really just about travel. They’re about life.

The job you think you’re not ready for? Jump. Take a risk.

That conversation you’ve been avoiding? Dive in.

The new city, the new love, the new version of you that feels like too much? Sledge into the rapids. You’ll get knocked around, but you’ll come out stronger…and probably with amazing stories to tell.

Obliterating your comfort zone doesn’t mean fear disappears. It just means you stop letting it be in the driver’s seat of your life.

And on the other side of that fear?

That’s where your next amazing adventure awaits. So, what are you waiting for?