“My Comfort Zone”

“Find Your Own Comfort Zone!”

We normally receive countless advice from people that we should once in a while leave our comfort zone and explore the world to find our true selves. However, have we already understood what comfort zone means, or perhaps the definition itself is tremendously controversial that one’s defining is different from the others’. 

One of my friends said that home is her definition of comfort zone. Staying in and practicing her routines, something she does regularly, are things she prefers to do most of her weekends. She believes that this promises comfort and safety. My opinion is somehow a little contrary to what she mentioned. I don’t know whether you have ever felt the same way, but it is true for me that whenever I stay in, my feelings are uneasy. I would get stressed and sometimes feel sick. 

So, I don’t consider my bedroom as a cozy zone, and I constantly feel like going out and needing a naturally fresh air. For example, when I have some short spare time, I often hang out with friends at a café in town. Moreover, if I have a long holiday, like 3 days or more, I would choose to go away. The majority of people would use the term ‘leaving the comfort zone’ to represent this action. 

However, I am a bit different. Going away is a path to reach my comfort zone.

You may question why I say this. It’s simple because comfort zone to me can be various places which are challenging, but they give me peace in my heart and mind. Normally, natural places with beautiful sceneries like islands, seas and mountains are my relaxing places. Thus, when I step out of the door of my house, I never think that I am leaving my comfort zone. Yet, I am going for a comfort zone.

This is one example of my leaving for a comfort zone: 

I was on cycling excursion with a group of friends from Phnom Penh to Koh Kong in 2017. Actually, I had been a bit hesitated whether I should join or not because I had never had experiences on riding for long distance, and I was not physically strong enough. I was afraid that I would not make it. The trip didn’t seem comfortable, did it?

Paradoxically, the circumstance which I was in wasn’t good at all. I felt extremely stressed and really exhausted due to my work and family. Even when I was staying at home, my head could not relax. So, I eventually decided to take the challenge.

From this, I found my peaceful time with my mental calmness during my bike ride on a very long road. I forgot all of my anxiety and started to fill my energy. The sole concentration I had was on my goal – the place that I set to arrive each day. 

From this, I have then learned many useful lessons in life. One of them is my idea on cycling. I came to understand that cycling does not depends on only our physical strength, but also commitment, endurance and direction. It is true that I was not well-trained cyclist, but I surely could do this job step by step. That means, during my trip, we rode around 100 kilometers a day, and we had to set out the direction for each day. 

Despite the difficulty to see the road in the evening as there were not any light, I remember we were still cycling until 7 o’clock because we must arrive at out pinned point. This shows that we needed a very strong endurance which came out of our mind.  Had we been lack of any of these mentioned points, we would have never reached the place we wanted to go. 

As you can see, traveling does not give me only peace in my heart, but it also provides a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. What is more important is that it often teaches me new lessons in life. The story is really not different since a combination of all of these together are truly essential to achieve our set goals.  

To sum up this article, I kind of have two points to leave here. First, people have different perspectives on the meaning of comfort zone. Second, a place that can give you a physical comfort is not always able to produce a mental well-being for you. But what I am sure about is that there is only you who can find your own comfort zone.     

“A Short Escape”

“Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets”

~ Oscar Wilde

The sun was setting down when I almost arrived there. I wish there was a time-machine in my hands to reverse one hour back in time. So, I could have taken some beautiful sunset photos too. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the view along the way. There were mountains in layering order which looks impressively cool and they reminded me of my last trip in which I was riding a bike to Koh Kong in that I saw very similar scenery as this.

I entered the farm, at which I was going to spend a night. It is located nor far away from Chrok La Eang resort. I could easily reach the resort by five-minute drive. At night, there was a campfire party in which we ate, drank and enjoyed the music together. The weather was getting colder, decreasing from 22oC to 19oC at eleven o’clock. It was going to get lower between midnight and morning so I had to cover myself with sweater and wear socks too. 

It is so cheerful when you can sit at the campfire and listen to live music that you love. People were dancing and laughing together. It was almost twelve now, and I was thinking whether I should stay up for Mikey Way shooting or I should sleep. Eventually, I decided to sleep because I was a little drunk and tired too. Plus, I wanted to get up early to see the sunrise. Perhaps, I would be able to take a few photos.

The morning came, I woke up at 4. I was thinking that if had gone out, I would have got sick. So, then I went back to sleep because it was absolutely freezing. At 6 I finally got up and walked outside with my camera and tripod. 

Wonderful! the mountains with morning fog were incredibly stunning. I was trying to shoot from my distance, but I, standing at lower land, was quite far from the view. I did not have any longer lens beside 70mm though. As a result, it was not easy to have the best-looking ones. 

After breakfast, we headed off to the waterfall at Chrok La Eang. Before we were allowed to enter, we had to get a ticket. There were not many people when I first arrived. Actually, people say that it would be crowded if it were holiday. I spent around twenty minutes on going around there, and then I went up to see a bigger waterfall which is one kilometer away. While I was trekking, I took photos of those amazing views along the way. It was not as far as I had thought.

Personally, Chrok La Eang is a very nice place to visit. It is a quiet and peaceful place where you can relax with the calming sound of waterfall and enjoy the fantastic sceneries of trees and mountains. Moreover, you can swim in there because the water is clear and clean. Also, I noticed that there is a place where you can do foot massage with natural fish. You just need to put your feet down and wait for a luck in which a school of fish will come and do the massage for you. Many people do that. If you love camping and want to challenge yourself, perhaps you can do that at somewhere there which I am not really sure. But, I saw a group of people who went there with tents and camp stuff on their back when I approaching the waterfall at the top stage. Anyway, I suggest that you should ask for permission or clarification from local authority first before you decide to do that. Last but not least, if you are in love with talking photos of nature, it is the place you can find variety of angles and frames. You can take and make memories there.

This was a quick retreating trip for me, and I really enjoyed it. I plan to go there again too, but for the next time I will surely go with my friends so it will be more exciting and memorable.