Outside the Comfort Zone

I didn’t even think about submitting anything.

Okay, I thought about it. I thought about what I would write about. But I didn’t think I’d actually send it in. Because that’s what I do. I think lots about stepping outside my comfort zone. Very rarely do I take that first step.

But then I got a text message that made me think I should.

So I wrote. I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to write about. But each time I sat down to write, the story took off in a different way. So then I would start again. And again. I started that piece more than five times. But I couldn’t ever finish it.

I had gotten this far into the process, that now I couldn’t back down. It became a challenge that I needed to take on.

I asked for help. I sat down with a couple of friends at two different times and asked “Why can’t I write this?”

At the end of the day, I was just trying to tell the wrong story.

*  *  *  *  * 

Several Sundays ago, at about 5:30 in the morning, I woke up with a jolt and started writing something that would start a healing process I didn’t know I needed. I started writing a story that began more than 16 years ago.  

I finished writing a few hours later. I took a copy with me into my room and, for the first time in ages, I read what I wrote to my husband.

I couldn’t even get through the first sentence without crying. My sweet husband placed his hand on my leg and just listened as I read and sobbed and read and sobbed.

*  *  *  *  * 

Saturday afternoon, I sat in a room with the wonderful Nichole and Margaret and I read that same story for my audition for Listen to your Mother. (Sans sobbing, luckily.) I’m really not sure I can accurately explain how grateful I am for this experience. For this process that I found myself going through. I can’t thank Nichole, Margaret and the LTYM event enough for this chance to do something that inspired me in ways that I didn’t think possible. I’m so thankful, no matter the outcome, that I stepped outside my comfort zone to write and to want to keep writing.

They say all the magic happens when you step outside your comfort zone. And I can’t wait to see more.