By Ivan Stanojevic

You are now leaving your comfort zone

I love saying that I enjoy leaving my comfort zone – but is that true?

Usually, when I see something that scares me, I want to do it (except anything involving me jumping from great heights). But in a way, I’ve been stuck in a comfort zone ever since I finished high school. Sure, I spent a year studying in Istanbul and a summer working in a restaurant in Michigan. I always try and go on the scariest rollercoaster in the park and I’ve seen Glitter starring Mariah Carey. But in a lot of ways, I chose the easy path when it came to my career and education. I didn’t go to the big city to try to find my place in the world. I stayed in the same 100 000 people city; I’ve lived in since I was 12. I always had bigger plans for myself, but never really did anything to truly realize them until this past January.

That’s when I filled out the online application for SCA and the real journey out of my comfort zone started. That’s not to say that that road wasn’t paved with obstacles and anxieties. I went through wanting to cancel my application, panicking about the presentation on Interview day and freaking out about the fact I’m moving to London.

But while a lot of these things scared me, they excited me even more. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m going to do the thing I was always meant to do and that’s a great feeling. I’ve also found myself enjoying all the assignments for SCA so much more than I could have ever imagined. 

After reading the briefs for both scholarship competitions, I was overwhelmed. But even though it seemed crazy, I knew I could do it. After devouring scholarship videos of years past and coming up with different concepts. I settled on the idea that was closest to me and went for the Hometown Heroes challenge. It was crazy, weird, dangerous and something I had never done before. But I enjoyed it most for the fact that it was SCA forcing me out of my comfort closet. And it worked. I managed to come up with a project that excited me and that excited the people that saw it. The reaction was incredible. Websites picked up on the story and I was even invited to appear on a podcast. It was wonderful. My project didn’t win, but seeing the brilliantly simple and unexpected project that did win, really showed me what it is I’m looking forward to the most at SCA. And that is not only learning to think outside of the box but to burn the box and play with its ashes. 

So, do I enjoy leaving my comfort zone? I definitely do. Despite all the anxieties and fears that come with it, it’s always worth it. The water in the pot is calm, until someone lights a fire and it starts boiling. I needed someone to light a fire under my ass to reach the next step in my career as a creative – and that someone is SCA. Now I can be sure that at least for the next year I will be safe from my comfort zone!