Last week I wrote a blog post challenging you to do something each day that scares you. A few days later I clarified by explaining that by saying, "scares you" I meant, do something each day that puts you outside your comfort zone - small "s." No sky diving, taming tigers, or tight-rope walking - big "S."
The point I was trying to assert is that, by challenging ourselves daily to do things such as: make a public announcement in a room full of strangers; drive in an unfamiliar part of town; confront someone, when normally you wouldn't; or schedule a dreaded doctor's appointment, we are, in fact, incrementally feeding our self confidence. These small, daily gestures remind us what we are capable of doing when we decide we are bigger than our own insecurities.
Many months ago Heather, Cheryl, Misty, and I made a decision that scared all four of us.
We decided to spend physical and financial resources, so that the House of Shine could host a one-day conference for mothers who live in north Texas. Rise and Shine, March 26, 2011.
The decision was scary for a lot of reasons. Hosting a conference is asserting that we have a message worth paying for; that we have the collective knowledge and skill to facilitate a day's worth of activity; and that we have the know-how required to not only organize the event, but also to market the event and ultimately break even on our investment.
As the March 26 conference date approaches, all four of us are sitting squarely outside our comfort zone in one way or another. I have coordinated plenty of conferences before, but self-promotion, sales, and marketing is not my thing. Misty is a natural sales person, but writing press releases and developing websites is unchartered waters for her. And there will be plenty more dissonance to go around in the weeks to come.
Our interest in hosting Rise and Shine was, I believe, the result of self confidence we have developed over a life time of tackling countless scary (small "s", not big) experiences. It was also a commitment to tackle countless more small tasks - many of which are new and scary. Scary with a small "s," not sky-diving-Scary or tiger-taming-Scary.
That, I think, is the way the cycle goes. Tackle a small "s" and earn the confidence to take on a bigger "S." Successfully muddle your way through that "S" and suddenly you are welcoming an even bigger "S." Life is a series of "s"s and each step along the way you must decide, sssssink, sssswim, or sssshine.
Any of you out-of-towners who want to join our sssswim meet (Rise and Shine Conference), drop me a line in the Community Forum section labeled, Today's Post and we will gladly cover your registration fee.
Shining off until tomorrow...