How much adventure can be packed into a month?
Although I didn’t (and wouldn’t!) set out to schedule it this way, and most of these adventures have really been months in the making, I’ve discovered my answer to that question is… a LOT!
Since my last post exactly a month ago, among many other mundane and worthwhile things, I have:
faced my greatest fear (my only evidence is the pic above and my audience’s memory!),
attended my first poetry slam
taken part in a “coffee cupping” at a local roaster
agreed to help promote and be the liaison for a Women’s Wilderness Trip this summer
successfully co-pitched 4 downtown business owners on a fabulous and as-yet unproven idea
conquered my biggest fear again — apparently needed to make sure that was a permanent victory that will stick (it was! it will!), and
launched a business!
BIG month.
Today, I bought myself a card that says: The world is full of people who will go their whole lives and not actually Live one day. She did not intend on being one of them.
I feel alive. I am learning so much. About me, about the truth (vs. the lies I’ve been believing for so long about who I am and what I am / not capable of), about God and how he is for me, about business, about other people, about the society we live in, about coffee!
And here’s the thing: life is rich! It’s chock-full of things and people, ideas and enterprises that are worth experiencing, worth spending time on, investing in and sacrificing for. YOU are worth all that! So am I!
So what if each of us started making a practice of questioning our limitations? What if we reevaluated who we’ve always believed ourselves to be? Stopped ourselves from saying things like: “I’m NOT a public speaker!” (Formerly my claim.) “I can’t do that.” “I’m not smart, pretty, wealthy, outgoing, in shape, __________ (fill in the blank) enough to ever do that.”
How about instead we say to ourselves and to the world, “I’m amazing and unique and beautiful and capable and so much fun — we should both get to know me better!” And how about we tell ourselves what we tell our kids about themselves “You can do anything you set your mind to!”?
Because here’s one of the biggest lessons I’m learning so far this year — right after “failure isn’t fatal” and “don’t wait for it to be perfect to put it out there” and the latest: adventure is SO much more worthwhile with a good friend by your side or at least cheering you on from the sidelines! The lesson is this: 99.9% of everything in my whole world — how I live my life, who I become, how I overcome (or don’t), what I have, know, believe, the dreams I pursue, the challenges I face, the victories I win, essentially the trajectory of my life — is about my mindset.
It’s true! And, for me, that’s encouraging. Because I’ve always prided myself on being someone who “reserves the right to change her mind.” I CAN CHANGE MY MIND! I feel the need to shout that — it’s such a great revelation! So can you! We change our minds all the time, don’t we? “Nah, I’m not really feeling like Mexican food anymore— maybe we should have pizza instead.”
How ‘bout we try changing our minds about ourselves, shall we?
A speaker I love to listen to, partly for his wisdom, partly, TBH, for his terrific British accent, often says, “If all your thinking has gotten you to a place you don’t like… have another thought!”
Ah, yes - I can do that! That’s the number one way I managed to not only get through facing my greatest fear, but actually have the time of my life doing it! So many tips to share about the how, but that will have to wait for another post…
For now, adventure is calling (snowshoeing in RMNP tomorrow) and I must go!
In the meantime, here’s another way to put it, in tiny truth form (props to my wise friend, Alice) that packs a big punch: Choose where you dwell.
I choose possibility.
