Recently my husband and I travelled to Santa Maria Island, Florida. While renting a car in Tampa, I was surprised to discover that we both could drive without an extra charge. My husband is usually the designated car rental driver, so it’s been years since I have driven a rental car in a new city. A friend of mine invited me to have breakfast with her in Sarasota, a 50 minute drive from the island. I had two options to make this happen. I could ride with her to Sarasota, but that would mean I couldn't get to the beach that day; or my second option was to drive myself in the rental car.
My mental process was something like this.
Hmm…maybe I should ride with her….I don’t know where I'm going…I don’t know all the gizmos on the car….it would be easier.
Then I stopped myself.
Drive the car…stretch yourself….move out of your comfort zone.
I drove the car. It turned out to be a relatively easy drive to Sarasota and my spirit was fed by the conversation along with the Spinach Eggs Benedict. I managed to get back to the Island in time to spend the afternoon on the beach. More important, I was willing to do something that made me a little uneasy.
Every time we are willing to step into an unfamiliar environment, our personal world becomes a little bigger. Each time we decide not to do something because it's a little difficult and choose to stay in our comfort zone, we shrink the perimeter of our lives.
This applies to all areas of our life.
So what does it mean to you as a writer? I think it is easy to find your writing niche, your writing comfort zone, and stay there. It may be a particular genre or style. Maybe it’s fiction, or non-fiction. Where is the territory you are afraid to explore in your writing? For me the anxiety provoking zone is poetry. Today, I choose to stretch my writing limits and make my writing life just a little bit bigger.
Driving down and unfamiliar highway
Not sure which way to go
Lost in a writer’s life.
Mary Jo Guglielmo is writer and intuitive life coach. For more information check out www.donorth.biz or folllow her at:
http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz
