My First Radio Interview: Stepping Outside my Comfort Zone

I first met Cherine Makram a couple of months ago at a workshop about changing the Status Quo and stepping out of your comfort zone. Little did I know that only a couple of hours later I would be presented with an opportunity to show that I was really ready to step out of my comfort zone: Cherine invited me to be interviewed on her radio show “Let’s be Friends” airing on the Luxembourgish radio station Radio Ara. Although my immediate reaction was slight panic, I knew that this was a good next step to move me out of my comfort zone. Now why is this important you may ask? There’s a saying that states that it’s outside of our comfort zone where the magic happens. If you are someone like me who loves to tackle new challenges, grow both personally and professionally, and constantly wants to learn new things, then you might be familiar with this process. You can only really achieve growth if you take small steps out of your comfort zone. Think about it: your first day in school, your first job, the first time driving a car, moving out of your parents’ house, and even the first time kissing someone. Those are all examples of us doing things for the first time, doing things we didn’t feel comfortable with. Granted these are all somewhat “common” examples that are just part of growing up and becoming an adult, but they are all still examples of us leaving our comfort and either learning something new, acquiring a new skill, or making new experiences that shaped the way we approached similar situations going forward. There may be a point in our lives where we no longer “need” to leave our comfort zone, because we have gotten to a point where we can function and manage our daily lives just fine. And maybe you are someone who is content with the skills you have, the knowledge you’ve acquired, the experiences you have made and you are no longer searching to learn, do, or become more. And that is fine too. But if you are anything like me, the status quo is never enough. There are more goals to reach, more skills to acquire, more experiences to make… And this is why I took Cherine up on her invitation. And for the first time in my life my voice and my story would be broadcasted on Luxembourg radio (which does not sound like that big of a deal, but for me that was a big step)!

The Interview: What was it like?

Now what was it actually like to be interviewed for a radio show? You bet I was pretty darn nervous the day before and the morning of the interview: would I know how to answer the questions, would I stumble over my words, would I not speak distinctly enough…? I actually scheduled a couple of appointments the morning of the interview so I would be a little distracted and wouldn’t be able to drive myself crazy before the actual interview. That did help a lot. Then it all went by really, really fast: I arrived at the radio station, met up with Cherine, we walked up to the studio, she took a few minutes to get everything set up and off we went. And I realized that really was the best way to do it: just jump in! Then there is not much time to freak yourself out or let your nerves get in the way of the whole experience. And the interview went by really quick. I didn’t even have time to think about how far along we were in the process and the whole thing was already wrapped up! For this, I also have to give a big shout-out to Cherine who made it so easy to engage with her and who made me feel so comfortable and at ease throughout the whole process. So thank you Cherine for that! 🙂

And of course you now get the chance to listen to the whole episode of Let’s be Friends featuring my story and my work with horses:

Famous Last Words

A few words of advice for the end: how do you know when you should step outside your comfort zone or how do you recognize the right opportunity to do so? Next time you come across an invitation to do something you’ve never done, a possibility for a new experience, or something similar and your first reaction is to cringe and think “hell no!” that is the exact moment where you should say: oh yes! Because those are the opportunities with the highest potential for you to grow and develop. Now go out there and let the magic happen! 😉