random thought: life lessons from a koala

When is the last time you really pushed yourself?

As in, when was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone and did something you thought you never would, or never could do? I know I don't do it enough. In fact, to some extent, I sometimes feel like a koala.

"Huh? But Jason, you don't look like you live on a diet of eucalyptus leaves! (Oh wait, maybe you do...)"

Anyway, yes, a koala. Let me explain...

Recently I was in Calgary with my boyfriend and a few of our friends. We decided to hit up the Calgary zoo, and has it happened there was a koala exhibit up from the San Diego zoo. Eventually we made our way through the park and came across the koalas. Then as luck would have it, a zoologist was just beginning a presentation on the many interesting facts of this cute and cuddly marsupial (actually, don't touch them, they're super vicious and will cut you... seriously).

The zoologist went along telling us all about the famed koala: what they like, how much they sleep, how they're loners. And then he got to an interesting fact that stood out to me. Did you know that in their entire life, a koala will never travel farther in its entire life than 10 trees away? That's it. Sounds pretty boring eh? In fact, even in the case of a forest fire, a koala will not run away. Instead, they cling to their tree even harder and will literally burn to death before they will leave their 10 tree comfort zone.

As I heard this I was shocked. How could an animal be so stupid that it would cling to its comfort zone, even when the forest around it was burning. But the more I thought about, the more I realized I am not really all that different. When life gets hairy and things don't go my way, I find I often cling to that which I find comfort in. Instead of getting outside my comfort zone and improving my situation, I instead continue to do more of the same. More of what I am used to. More of what's comfortable and easy.

And there are a million different fires out there: some people are poor and some are overweight. Some people are stuck in dead-end jobs and some are stuck in abusive relationships. Everyday we make the choice to live our lives in our own 10 tree comfort zone. But really, how comfortable is it? For all the perceived challenges of choosing to get away from the fire, is climbing down the tree and running that much worse than burning in it?

How much better and how much easier would it be to have all those things we want?