Tag: comfort zone

Adventure

Categories Balance, Life, UncategorizedLeave a Comment on Adventure

Happy 2017, smagik readers! 

On NYE morning, I woke up in a motel in Kingman, Arizona, half way between NM and LA. New Years Eve. 2016 for another few hours. And, as I sat eating my complimentary breakfast, all I could think was “I didn’t realize leaving my comfort zone would be so uncomfortable.” Ha! That possibility had honestly never crossed my mind. Not until I was home for Christmas, loading up my car with things to take to LA, saying goodbye to family, and driving across the desert, again. 

When I arrived in LA, it was drizzling and chilly as I made the fifteen or so trips up and down 48 stairs to unload art, dishes, shoes, files, Christmas presents, one Buddha statue, and a shelf from my car. Once unloaded, I stared at piles of things deemed worthy of bringing west. Wow, now what? “Just keep going,” whispered a voice. 

While home for Christmas, I became aware of two distinct voices raging a sort of battle in my head. One was loud, screaming, scared, gripping, wanting only to stay safe, secure, and to know how everything was going to turn out. The other was a faint whisper that told me to keep going and to trust that I was being guided. And for much of the trip, the screams were winning. It was only after my first panic attack in ten years, late at night on Christmas night, that I realized how quickly and urgently I had been operating for the past few months and that it was time to get quiet, slow down, and come back to the whispers.  

When I slow down, tune in, and keep myself very, very present, it is easy to trust in the adventure and timing of my life. When I move too fast and try to manhandle the universe into doing things exactly how I want them done, WHEN I want them done, panic ensues. 

So, here I am in my fairly empty but cute apartment, sharing walls with strangers for the first time since college, exploring a new neighborhood, and trying to just make one decision at a time. All I know is that this feels right for the time being. I needed to mix things up and I succeeded and I have to trust that I will continue to succeed. 

Because I find there to be the finest of lines between fear and excitement, I choose Adventure as my word for 2017. When handed choices, obstacles, and situations, I plan to make my decisions from a place of “what is the adventurous, and therefor trusting, way to do this?” It builds upon my 2016 word of Faith, around which I know I still have more than a few lessons to learn. I trust that by bringing Adventure into the mix, I will choose fun and joy more frequently, keep myself present, and practice having Faith that I am being guided through the fog. Onward! 


I wish all of you a joyous, happy, present, fun, healthy, prosperous, and adventurous year!! Make it great! 

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Safe. 

Categories Life, UncategorizedLeave a Comment on Safe. 

A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it is built for.

-Albert Einstein

Just over a  month ago, I made a list of what I love about my life and things I would like to change. Among the many I loved were low overhead, a career I was established in, and my house. Comfort. And among those I wanted to change were stagnation within a career I am grateful for but don’t love, a city that is comfortable but unexciting, and an overall feeling of complacent, easy familiarity.

Uh oh. In my experience it is possible to stay in a comfort zone for only so long as one doesn’t realize that is what it is. I have been a costumer in the film industry for 13 years, owned my house for 11, and have been based in the city I went to college in since college.  For over a decade I have resisted learning curves, added expenses, appearing impractical, following my heart, and believing that my big, huge, wild daydreams could actually be called plans instead. And, the funny part is, I never realized it or thought of myself as someone who  played it safe or made decisions out of fear.

But, here I am. And, thanks in part to my training at MITT (mittraining.com), a spotlight has illuminated areas of my life I had preferred to keep dim and now there is no going back. Not wanting to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, how can I use that which I already have to support new directions in which I want to go?

I am well established in a career and industry that allows one to take lots of time off if desired. Great! Use the randomness of the film industry to support myself as I experiment and move in new directions professionally and creatively.

I have a house in a cool neighborhood that I adore but in a city that hasn’t been inspiring me lately.  Great! Let it work for me, instead of vice versa, and rent it out, rather than feel tethered.

Time to think creatively and to realize I really am only ever as trapped as I decide to be! And the same goes for you. No excuses. In my morning tarot card pulls, fear and change keep coming up, with the common theme being to move towards each rather than away. Which ideas cause my stomach to flip flop slightly? Great! Do that.

The ocean, museums, new day trips, an expanded social circle, different views, travel, creative income, undiscovered restaurants, hikes, and businesses, adventure, curiosity, exploration, trust, faith, expansion. Yes, please.

I chose Faith as my word for 2016 and know that in order to fully embrace that word, I have to leave the shore.

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