A few days ago, a blogger friend of
mine sent me an invitation for a month-long blog challenge and I was both
surprised and honored (after being petrified, that is). It was great that she thought of me and
knowing her and how seriously she treats her writing, I felt that this was not
just another aimless challenge for participants. Well, this invitation actually caused
something utterly shocking. I said yes
and clicked on that ‘JOIN’ button. Yes,
I decided to take on the challenge and though I am four days late, I figured it
would not hurt to just do my best to keep up from this day forward.
So what was so shocking about me
saying yes, you might ask. Well, if you
knew me, you’d understand. You would know
that one serious ailment I suffer from is having an overactive excuse
muscle. I make excuses to not put myself
out there. I make excuses so I can just
stay put within my comfort zone. I make
excuses so I don’t even have to try, ergo avoid any sort of sense of
failure. And as with any muscle, the
more you use and flex it, the more developed it becomes. It becomes effortless in time and simply
becomes an automatic response.

That was just approximately two
minutes in my frazzled head and that was probably just a percentage of the
countless excuses I actually came up with.
Fortunately, after about maybe 20 minutes more and the muscle finally
got tired, there was enough energy left for my ‘why not?’ daring muscle and it
finally kicked in.
Why not? What the heck! Let’s do this and see where it goes! How bad can it be? See how much you can do, how well you can
do! Challenge yourself. Just give it a shot. It won’t hurt to try or even fail. It’ll be a good exercise and new experience
for you. You might be surprised at what you
could learn. Breathe and stop being so
scared. You can NEVER plan for
everything anyway, EVER, so just do it now.
If not now, when? When will you
ever say you’ll have enough time and energy?
Say YES for a change and take the plunge!
As soon as I said YES, as soon as
I allowed myself to imagine the possibilities, I felt energy. Yes, there is still fear and worries of not
being able to write on some days. But
that is the essence of the challenge…to try to just dive in, take a free fall
and believe that something will come to you and that you can live through
it. It’s all about committing and just
saying yes and with this simple invitation to a blog challenge, I truly realized
how afraid I have been; how wrapped up in self-sabotaging thoughts I am; and
how much of a commitment-phobe I’ve become to an extent. It seems I’d been so afraid of committing to
anything that would require my focus and time because I always think it’s no
longer mine to give. What
if something comes up at home? What if I
need to do something for my son and husband? And yes, something will surely come up but it
will be a decision for me to make and it will be my time to give. I still have Me and I need to give time for
myself as well…time to explore what I can really do, what I love to do and
where this new-found passion for writing will take me.
The challenge is on and with a
simple thought of YES and a simple click on JOIN, I felt myself ignore a road
block…something I myself create over and over, and now that I’ve been able to ignore
one, who’s to say I can’t do it again?
Wish me luck!
"You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it goin'..."
ReplyDeleteAwww Jigi, that's soo kind and sweet of you to say. Thanks for the reminder and I am sincerely honored AND humbled. Thank you for your faith, your support and friendship. I will do my best!
ReplyDeleteTV, Thanks and I hope we both get inspired. And I hope you know, your thoughts and questions on your site ALWAYS inspire me!!!
ReplyDeleteGREAT reminder for me Rachel! THANKS!!!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the adventure! We're all here to support you :-)
ReplyDeleteHaha! I so identify with this post, Joy. I'm very Scorpio like you are and go from the excuse extreme to the "Why not?" extreme. I think the why-not extreme brought me here to Peru. =P
ReplyDelete