It felt like coming home.

by

 


 

As bloggers, heck as *PEOPLE*, we talk constantly about the need to get out of our comfort zones.

We write the top four reasons why exiting the zone of comfy is crucial.

We listen to podcasts about how and why we should abandon what we’re used to and try!new!things!

We tweet & we Facebook about how today is the day! Im totally leaving my rut & trying something new!! and hope for encouraging words in response.

It was in that vein I submitted an audition essay to Listen To Your Mother show.

It had been eons since I’d written anything non-healthy living related and NEVER since I’d written anything essay-length or like.

I opened up a word doc, I sat for a moment, I collected my thoughts and fifteen minutes later I was finished.

I didn’t rush.

I wasn’t in “this is so awkward & uncomfortable I just want to get it done!” mode (Ive been there and hurried that).

What I wanted to say & the story I longed to tell flowed out of me.

It was as though Id carried it in my heart for so long all I needed to do was put finger to keyboard and it materialized.

And the experience of leaving my writing comfort zone? It felt surprisingly like coming home.

I was called in to audition for the Austin show‘s organizers and I rocked it.

I share this fact not pridefully rather as a reminder to myself (and I hope to you) how sometimes, when we take a deep breath and plunge ourselves into an experience which is new & scary, the results can surprise us.

It can feel like coming home.

Instead of feeling awkward & frightening it can feel like precisely where you were meant to be and exactly what you were meant to be doing.

It can feel like coming home.

Austin’s Listen To Your Mother show takes place at the end of April.

Similar shows are happening across the United States this month (cities are listed on their home page), too.

I encourage you to see if your city is hosting a Listen To Your Mother event.

I know how excited & honored I am by the opportunity to share my story.

I can only imagine all the other women feel the same.

I wonder, if to them as well, leaving the zone of comfort felt shockingly like returning home.

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Comments

  2. “I share this fact not pridefully rather as a reminder to myself (and I hope to you) how sometimes, when we take a deep breath and plunge ourselves into an experience which is new & scary, the results can surprise us.”

    Like motherhood.

    Printing this out to sit by my computer.

    • I’m printing this, too.
      I have grown very attached to my zone.
      I need to leave and see what happens.
      Print the essay here that same day and time for those of us not in Texas?

  3. Is it wrong I raed this and think you’re telling me to weight training today not run?
    I need to leave my “zone of comfort.”

  4. I think thid is exactly why I was so proud of my mudrun event this weekend. Leaving my comfort zone to do something ive never done in front people I work with was so scary. But Im so glad I did it anyway. 🙂 Congrats to you for pushing thru your walls.

  8. I kinda tune out anything that says “listen to your mother” since I don’t have a mother…(by her choosing!) but yet would love my precious teen to listen to ME!!!
    hmmm comfort zones….I left mine and WOW…

  9. I love the way you write, MizFit.
    Will you share your essay here?
    I’m not in Austin 🙂

  10. Also I got out of my comfort zone this wekeend and tried yoga for the first time.
    It did feel like coming home in a small way.
    I’ll go back.

  11. 🙂

    I am often surprised at how often the things we don’t think we’d ever want to do ignite new passion in us when we simply try them with an open heart and open mind.

  15. We are thankful for that OVERFLOW of good writing and life! It’s been a blessing to read! So excited for you all that you doing. Maybe I can come at the end of april!

  19. I am so proud of you Carla! You are one amazing lady & always teaching us something new. I have done things out of my comfort zone & even as far as to take a couple acting classes way back when but nothing like this! This seems way scarier than that little tiny bikini I wore for the bodybuilding competitions.. I will check it out BUT I wish I could be there to hear you!

  21. Well, my comment did not show up so I will try again!

    I can’t remember what I wrote! 😉 Just loved this post & so proud of you!!! I wish I could be there to see this!

    I think this is even scarier to me than the little tiny bikini at the bodybuilding competitions! 😉

    Yes, out of the comfort zone can be a good thing – always learning!

  23. wow – that is so lovely! ahhhhh the coming home feeling from the most unlikely of experiences.
    What a lovely gift, eh?
    And yes… I LOVE this 15 minutes – then – we’re done. THOSE are the best – the flow of it all…
    So excited and happy for you!

  25. How exciting! I’m trying to move outside my comfort zone and grow my other blog as well at the moment. It’s the one that is more about ‘my writing’… and that’s scary! So I can kinda understand how you felt writing about something not related to fitness and wellbeing etc.

    Well done! As usual!

    Deb

  28. Awesome! You’re such an inspiration! Well, I’m not gonna run out and have kids in order to be on a radio show, but, um, will try to move a little closer to the outer edge of my comfort zone. Congrats on rocking the audition!

  31. Wow…that’s so neat, Carla! You are inspiring in the way you step out and share for us to find our own level of challenge too. And it’s true! We do write often about getting out of our comfort zones – here’s to actually doing it and “coming home” – love that. 🙂 Congrats again!

  32. I got chills and nearly shed tears while reading this. I have several friends and colleagues who were accepted, as well, and I am so very proud of each of them (including you!).

    The director asked me personally to submit something for this, and I quickly said…public speaking is not my thing. Reading this made me feel like there’s maybe a chance I could have “rocked it.” Regrets aside, I’m happy to go and sit in the audience and cheer and cry for my fellow Mom models. You all inspire me so.

    I went to this last year, and it was truly amazing. Those who can attend…do not miss it. Those who can’t…they should provide you with a video tape of your reading that you can share here on your blog.

    Good luck lady!

  34. That is so awesome, Carla! And inspiring. How fitting, because I am holding an Adventurous April challenge on my blog this month, encouraging everyone to step out of their own comfort zone whether it be with something big or small. Thanks for sharing how you are stepping out and turning heads!

  35. I love this – both that you rocked the essay and that you recognized it! We’re so trained to see our own faults that it’s glorious (literally) to see you claim this. I wish I could have seen you do it in person:) So proud of you, my friend!

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