Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Doing things the first time!

I just watched a most lovely video of two older ladies flying for the first time. First time flying It got me thinking about how many things in life we just skip because it is a little, or a lot scary for us?? To think of all the adventures they avoided because they were uncomfortable with it or were with someone who was uncomfortable with it... The thought of that is very sad for me.

I think the default setting for most people is to not do things out of their usual.  Just eat the food they are used to.  Go to the grocery they are used to. Change is difficult.  We have to make new decisions, make a new space in our head for alternative possibilities. That brain stretching is difficult! 

I would like to tell the people who make very few changes in their lives because it is difficult to just jump.  Just try, one little thing at a time.  Just give something new a whirl.  Change, new things, new experiences always give your stomach a little jump.  The difference is just if you move past that odd feeling and press through it against all odds,  what will you find?  Something amazing?  Something awful? Something delicious? Something breathtakingly beautiful?  Sadness?  The point is that pushing past that weird feeling in your stomach and that voice of fear in your head, you don't know what you will find. The finding out that makes life worth living.

Life is an adventure.  I made a decision many years ago that I would give up allowing that feeling in my stomach to rule my life. That does not in anyway mean that feeling went away.  Or that it was suddenly easy to venture out of comfort. It wasn't at all.  It was just a decision to just allow myself to jump and move past the awful feeling and find out what is on the other side.  Sometimes like everyone I get into a rut and sit on my laurels again.  But life always finds a way to stir inside me pushing me to try something new.  Do a first time again, a first time of something!

I challenge myself (and you, whoever reads this) to go out and find a first time, push through the uncomfortable feeling and report back how it felt!  Not dangerous/hurtful/mean things, but things that stretch you as a person in a loving/learning/adventurous way.

Off with you now, do something good!