Alex+C’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016


 * Uncomfortable **

Hi. Let me tell you about my plans for this summer. So, at the end of this month I'm going to be at a returning staff member at a leadership conference at LMU in LA. After that I'll be back for what will seem like a very long week before I get on a plane and go to Nepal. My first ever flight by myself is going to be an international one to a third world country that just one year ago was completely destroyed by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. I’m going to be flying into the airport that was also partially destroyed by said earthquake. From there, I will gather my luggage which has pretty much all of my belongings in it and look for a person who I don’t know who will be holding up a sign that says “Projects Abroad” and my name. Then, I will go up to this person and we’ll introduce ourselves. Then, wait for it, I will follow this person to a car, at night because that’s when I’m going to be arriving, and I will give them my luggage and get in so they can hopefully take me to the hotel. If I make it to the hotel and last until morning, I will be there for two weeks, spending practically every day in a teaching hospital in Chitwan. Then, I will be getting on another plane, by myself once again, and will be heading to Krakow, Poland for a five day event called World Youth Day. Once there, I will be looking for a group of about 15 people….among the 2.5 million people going to the event. As usual, I will be alone and probably lost until I manage to find my small group among all those people. If I do manage to find them, it will be a great five days. If I don’t, well, it will still be a great five days and at least I know where the airport is so I can get home! Once I do eventually get home though, I can only imagine how nice it’s going to be to take a shower in my own house and sleep in my own bed.

Now, some of you might be thinking, “Wow! That sounds crazy but super cool!” Others of you probably focused on the super sketchy parts of my summer plans, such as potentially being kidnapped or being alone and lost for nearly a week. Both ways of thinking are totally valid. However, this is something I really want to do. I want to break out my comfort zone, take risks, do crazy things! Although, I know plenty of people who don’t feel the same way. They’re okay with not going abroad or letting themselves get lost in an unknown place or just not having control over everything. It makes sense. Really, it does.

There are so many areas in all of our lives that we are super comfortable in, but there are also other areas that we enjoy constantly pushing the limits of, or at the very least, that we want to push the limits of. Taking myself for example, I want to get out of Ventura, because one of the more cultural experiences here is going to Himalaya (it’s a Nepalese restaurant). However, oddly enough--even though I’d be willing to fly around the world by myself--an area I don’t like pushing the limits of is voicing my honest opinions in class. There are some people who might be really good at that, people who push themselves to share their opinions in front of their peers, but they might not want to travel abroad. We all have our different areas that we’re comfortable in and that’s totally fine, but it is a //damn shame// if we never learn how to be uncomfortable, if we never learn how to push ourselves.

I want to live in an America where people like to poke their heads out of their comfort zones and look around for possibilities, discover opportunities, be uncomfortable. I want people to explore the outer limits of space, but if they aren’t quite comfortable with that, I want them to try to get out of their own inner limits. However, I’d like to make a distinction. I’m not asking people to expand their comfort zones. People don’t have to be comfortable travelling abroad, they don’t have to be comfortable voicing their opinions in class. They should just try it out, explore the terrain a bit and see what it’s all about. Just imagine an America where people like to push themselves, go above and beyond, question, and learn something new. Being uncomfortable is an innate American trait. We are all explorers, adventurers, dreamers, and thinkers because we are all capable of getting out of our comfort zones. And that's an America I want to live in. One with people unafraid of being uncomfortable.