On Understanding Our Comfort Zones
Somebody recently asked me why don't I use particular quilting tools that she prefers, and if I have trouble with certain effects of quilting from using the tools I do use.
I answered that working in this manner is within my comfort zone.
Her response was a bit on the unkind side, chiding me by hinting that it's not good to stay in one's comfort zone.
That brings up an interesting topic of discussion. A comfort zone is where you are comfortable **at this present time**. It doesn't negate one's growing & learning. A comfort zone is *not* equivalent to willful and stubborn ignorance.
Comfort zones are important in all aspects of our life: whether they are our personal or creative sides. Somebody may be ready to get married/have kids/go to graduate school/etc., but you're not. You're in your comfort zone & they are in theirs.
The same goes for our creative world. For instance, if you are ready to use a new fabric, that's awesome. But if currently you're comfortable with learning all the aspects of working only with cotton fabrics, then that's where you're comfortable. If you like using a particular foot on your machine as opposed to the one someone else prefers, then good on you.
No amount of pressure from someone who is ready to move beyond what they are presently doing should make you feel like you ought to move on to something else, especially to "their" thing.
When you're ready to grow past wherever you are at the moment then you will expand into a new comfort zone. Everyday you may expand to a new place and learn something new that makes you feel more comfortable with x-y-or-z. It might take a year to feel comfortable with something new or it might take an hour.
It really bothered me when this person intimated that I should be ready to do something different, simply because she was doing it that way. That's what it really amounted to. There didn't seem to be a lot of understanding of differences of experience and personal preference on her part. But in the end, the only thing there was to say was, "You do you."