It’s time to start writing again. After a year of consciously challenging comfort zones, both personally and professionally, I’m welcoming the new year feeling like maybe, just maybe, the positive energy I’ve given and received in the process will serve me in ways I never imagined.
I have a confession. I’m an introvert (some people think that’s a disability). Sometimes I suffer from social anxiety (that too). I’ve always felt like I have to work pretty hard to fit in. I’m a wealth of useless information sitting on the sideline until the right cocktail party or networking event comes along. There are very few spaces and places in which I’ve ever felt a sense of belonging. When my son went away to college and I left corporate America to become a business owner, I realized for the first time in my life, I could live for me. But I had no idea what that actually meant. And to be honest, I don’t think I even knew who “me” was. And so the adventure began… to find me in a sea of personas I had created over the course of a lifetime to survive, be a good mom, a good partner, and a good employee.
Challenging comfort zones is a lot like sitting on a cactus. I can attest to this because I actually did sit on a cactus when hiking Buckskin Gulch in southern Utah a few months ago. It’s not painful but it’s really uncomfortable and getting cactus spines out of your rear end on a hot day in the middle of the desert is not easy. And if that not enough discomfort for you, imagine needing to turn your tweezers over to your fellow hiking companion to assist (literally and figuratively). When all is said and done though, and the discomfort has dissipated, you come away from the experience with a few lessons learned, a story to tell, a good laugh, and a much better appreciation for kind souls, especially the ones willing to lend a helping hand in a most awkward situation. Isn’t that what life is all about?
The journey will continue in 2023 and I’d like to invite you to join me for it. I’d like to share some discomfort, some stories, some laughter and tell you about the amazing souls I meet along the way… for whom I’ll be eternally grateful.
