Roping Horses and Comfort Zones

This week I had the opportunity to rope with some friends. We got the four-wheeler out and attached the roping dummy to it, then took turns roping off our horses for most of the night. I am not an experienced roper so I got to be the dummy driver. It was a lot of fun! Up and down the arena we would go. Sometimes it was a clean catch, other times it was a huge miss. Everyone had roped before and the horses were pretty experienced. They knew to follow the dummy and listen to their rider. After a little while we noticed that the horses did well going up the arena however, going down they always veered off to the left. When we stopped to talk about this, one of the riders said he believed they were following the security of the fence line.

As I was thinking about this experience a familiar quote came to mind. "There is no growth in a comfort zone and no comfort in a growth zone." My friend tells me this anytime I am hesitant or reluctant to try something new because I am scared. I think this quote applies to this situation and to many in life. The roping horses were well trained in what to do. They knew to listen to their rider and, as we could see going up the arena, were good at trailing the roping dummy. On the way down the arena they were hesitant to leave the security of the fence line which ultimately pulled them off course. How often do we get so caught up in the security of something that we fall trap to staying in our comfort zones? How often do we miss opportunities that we are well trained for because we are playing it safe?  I recently read a book titled "What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20" by Tina Seelig. In this book she emphasizes that we need to "give ourselves permission." We need to give ourselves permission to try new things, to quit, to learn and to fail. These all involve stepping outside our comfort zone into a growth zone. We have so much potential and we are capable of more than we let ourselves believe. On the runs where the horses stayed away from the fence and created a new path the riders were able to catch the dummy and succeed. Sometimes mistakes were still made on the riders part, but at least they were given the chance to try. There are so many opportunities out there that we will miss if we just "follow the fence line." We need to step out of our comfort zones and into a growth zone because that is where life really lies.

This is an example of what a roping dummy looks like. You put it on a bale of straw or hay in a four-wheeler trailer and bam! You have a transportable dummy.