Lesson learned from parents (unhappily) celebrating their 50th anniversary
I have been loving the Guest Posts that have lit up the Mac & Cheese blog as of late. All the authors so different in their demographics, backgrounds, and connections to me, yet all with the common thread of people willing to not only be vulnerable but to share their vulnerabilities. Which is powerful to the umpteenth degree because when we hear that we’re not alone, that others out there struggle with ______, their courage spreads and infects, and all of a sudden, you have a room full of people saying “Me too!”
And all of a sudden, you have community. Which is Life of Yes℠ embodied.
Thanks for sharing Lynn Ramos Pedotto!
Saya invites us to do many things throughout our Fear Experiment. She wants us to stretch ourselves. To be social. To commit to something, anything.
To sell tickets. Recruit “Villagers.” Submit short video recordings where we talk about our FE experience. And Saya has invited us to blog. About ourselves……..
I hate self-promotion and talking about myself. I’d rather prose about a friend, a family member, a colleague, and heck even little men in green hats if they existed. To write about myself and my experience…..shudder.
But even more than I hate talking about myself, I hate not being a team player. So here I sit at my computer composing something, anything to say about my participation in Fear Experiment and with Mac & Cheese Productions.
First, I already live a #lifeofyes. I started on this path about four years ago when my parents were about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We wanted to throw them the customary party but they hemmed and hawed, finally admitting that they had NOTHING to celebrate.
Their revelation got me to thinking about happiness and my life. Did I want to get to the end and feel like it was nothing? A wasted life? No!
I radically changed. I left an unhappy marriage. I went back to school. I started a new career. I was scared every, single day of life but somehow I focused on what I wanted and where I wanted to go. I began to carve my own path out of the rocks that had inhabited my soul. I said YES to opportunities big and small, believing that even if I did not know how it benefitted me at that moment I would learn something about myself and the world around me.
Skip forward to the fall of 2014. An acquaintance of mine, Leslie, tagged a Facebook post in which Saya spoke of the upcoming deadline for FE8. Leslie suggested I check it out and consider participating in it. I attended an informational meeting, applied and was graciously invited to join 14 other amazing women as part of DE 6 (aka known Dance Experiment!)
I thought I had joined this group in order to simply try my hand at dancing and redeem myself from my tragic pageant days (that’s a whole other story.) What I have learned about myself is that I’m really, really good at saying yes. That’s not my fear.
My fear is saying “look at me, look at what I’m doing.” “Come see me dance and perform, oh and pay $25 for the honor to do it.”
It is easier for me to sit in the corner and try blend into the wallpaper. It is definitely my comfort zone. But with this guest post, I’m standing up and shouting “LOOK AT WHAT I’M DOING!”
I signed up with 14 strangers. I committed to 2 rehearsals a week. I’m moving my body in ways it has never moved before. I may look goofy, but it’s okay. At least I’m doing SOMETHING!
And, I’m having fun.
If you’d like to see other Guest Posts, head here.
To see Lynn on stage with her fellow Fear Experiment℠ crew at the Park West in a few weeks, head here.
To learn more about Fear Experiment℠ and find out how to participate — storytelling, improv, dance, a capella, stepping — head here.