In an effort to re-vamp my writing habit, I'm coming back to this space and using the blog as an outlet again. I've always been a writer (not a reader) and have always loved the creative outlet that came from it. I once dreamt of being a newspaper columnist (a la Carrie Bradshaw but with less sex) or a travel writer, neither one of those have materialized just yet, but maybe someday someone would pay me to travel around the world and write my thoughts :-).
I've been regularly listening to Jillian Michaels' and Trish Blackwell's podcasts. Jillian I've been listening to for a few years and regardless of what you think of Jillian from "The Biggest Loser", I promise you, her podcast is great and you get a little more sense of what she does behind the scenes with contestants and what her true passion/goal is with giving people the knowledge and tools to have success in their life. Trish I've been listening to since the summer of 2013 (so less then a year) but she's climbed out of a dark hole of an eating disorder to bring a podcast out that's about confidence and being the best you you can be. They are a little different formats but are generally about the same principles and I love them both. Jillian can be a little more brusque and Trish a little softer but they are both great shows so if you listen to podcasts (or don't and want to start) I highly recommend them if you're interested in life kind of topics. (I also listen to TED talks and science friday podcasts but they aren't pertinent to this edition of Living This Journey :-) ) One of the reoccurring topics is stepping outside the comfort zone and pushing life and pushing your limits because that is where growth happens and where you really can achieve something. This isn't a new concept but I've been thinking about it....
Ok, so now that I have set the stage what does this have to do with my renewed interest in writing? The two remembered dreams I posted above came from thinking about pushing the boundaries. I really love my life; I have a partner who is a partner, I'm happy with my friends, I love my family even though they can drive me a little crazy sometimes (but isn't that the point of family?!?!), I love my job (even if teenagers are a pain in the butt), my co-workers are pretty good, I can pay my bills, I have money in the bank, I have a spiritual home and things are really going pretty well. The only thing I'm not 100% about is my health, but my health is a process that took years to screw up so it's going to take years to fix. I'm doing the right stuff and am on the right track so I can't really complain about that either. Does this mean I'm just resting on my laurels?
So that got me thinking about this pushing the limits....I'm not pushing the limits, I'm not reaching for any major accomplishment because I'm just happy. And I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing but where is that growth happening? How am I making myself better and not staying stagnant? I'm in graduate school for a Masters in Biology but what about the other parts of my soul that have been lost or been buried in the adult life that has been built? Writing is one of the things that I have set aside from my younger days that I sorely miss both for being a creative outlet and for being a way to process thoughts, experiences, and emotions. Therefore I realized that one of the ways to push and "do one thing every day that scares you" (Eleanor Roosevelt) was to resurrect my love of writing.
There you have it, I'm going to be setting aside time again to write and fitting it into my schedule because it is one way to push myself and to continue expanding beyond the limits.
