What do you do when the walls and protection you’ve built to shield you from the over stimulation from the outside world start keeping you from interacting, even when you want to? Where do you start? How do you get back into finding people you want to get to know and then start talking to them?

A while back, I got myself in that exact position.

For me, my comfort zone was like a box. It was tight and confining. I didn’t really want to push against the walls, because they were there to protect me from the big loud world. Until I did.

My life felt boring and all smothery. Breaking through the walls sounded loud and painful and not a little scary. I could learn how to push again, though. Some days I pushed hard, some just a little. Redefining my comfort zone instead of breaking out of it.

A little bit at a time, stretching the zone, building my comfort muscles. (Holy switch in metaphors!) As I got stronger, I didn’t need the box to protect me any more. (Did that bring it all together for you? Can you pretend? Thanks.)

When you sign up for Getting Friendly with Social Media, every Saturday for 10 weeks I’ll send out a small email challenge to help you push your own walls just a little further out. Some weeks may have a couple of levels depending on where you might be in your own comfort zone.

At the end of the course, if you complete each exercise, you’ll have a unified, recognizable presence on Facebook and Twitter, or whichever social network you use; engage with friends and followers in your social networks by sharing, posting, and responding; comment on blog posts and post replies; join Twitter chats; create lists and groups; and connect with new friends and followers.

Sound like your next step? Great, then fill in the box below, and we’ll get started.