Many people view their comfort zone as a wonderful and cozy place where life is easy, familiar, and totally risk-free. While this may sound like an ideal environment, it’s impossible to grow as a person if you stay inside your comfort zone because there are no opportunities to try new things, make mistakes, experience failure, and learn from those experiences.

Far too many people worry about what other people think of them. Instead of living their life on their own terms doing things that bring them joy and happiness, their primary motivation is to impress others.

An article by Chelsea Bailey, which was posted on bbc.com, featured Hody Childress, a life-long resident of the small rural community of Geraldine, Alabama. Mr. Childress was known as a humble man, “who would often send handwritten get-well cards and share vegetables from his garden with neighbors.”

I came across an article by Frank Martela on cnbc.com which points out that Finland has been named the happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report for the fifth year in a row.

I came across a story on Facebook about Jumbo, a Netherlands based supermarket chain. The company introduced a slow checkout line in some of its stores—referred to as a Kletskassa or “chat checkout”—when it discovered that some customers are not in a rush and would enjoy talking to the cashier while paying for their groceries.

I came across a story by Ryan Katz and Tara Boyle posted on npr.org that dealt with Stephanie Cole’s first day on her very first job as a teenager. It was the height of the Christmas shopping rush, and she was working as a retail clerk in a busy department store in Los Angeles during the 1960s.

On December 23rd, Alexander and Andrea Campagna were inside their home during the height of the snowstorm that was burying Buffalo, New York when there was a knock on their door. Outside were nine Korean tourists and their driver who were traveling from Washington, D.C. to Niagara Falls. Their tour bus was stuck in the…

I saw the following quote on Facebook, and I think it’s an excellent way to determine what kind of day you’ve had: “If you can lie down at night, knowing in your heart that you made someone’s day just a little bit better, you know you had a good day.” It doesn’t take much to make someone’s day better—a smile, a kind word, a hug, a compliment or just listening to what another person has to say. If you do these simple but caring things, you’ll not only make the world a better place, but you’ll feel better about yourself and sleep better as well.

The last thing you want to do when someone cuts you off in traffic, doesn’t say thank you or doesn’t hold a door open for you, is to take it personally. Keep in mind that such behavior is not directed at you, it’s directed at the world.