Out of the Hobbit Hole

Tags

2 a.m. ramblings, adventures, burlesque, gandalf, headliners, hobbits, louisville, va va vixens

[WARNING: The post you are about to read was written at approximately 2 a.m. by a sobered up halfling. Proceed with caution.]

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”–Bilbo Baggins (JRR Tolkien, LotR)

I mentioned in my first post that a new friend (he would prefer Treebeard, but it’s my blog, so we’re going to call him Gandalf) has taken to describing me as a hobbit. It’s a fairly accurate characterization, which seems to apply to my life in a myriad of ways. At any rate, it keeps coming up.

Gandalf performs with a local burlesque troupe (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d type!) and had a show this weekend. I had plans to go with another friend, who unfortunately backed out due to some wedding planning needs. Now, a month or two ago, I would have taken that as an easy excuse to get out of a voluntary social event and spend the night with Netflix. But I’m not the same person I was a month or two ago. That person would have begged and pleaded and asked everyone she knew to come along and, failing that, would have stayed home anyway.

New and improved me, however, decided that I wanted to go and nothing was going to stop me. So I took myself out to dinner, drove to the venue, waited in line, and watched the show on my own. And you know what? It was fantastic!

I got to eat what I wanted for dinner; I got to meet new people while standing in line; I scoped out the best seat in the house and got to people watch from there; and I got to hang around after the show people watching and chatting. And then I drove myself home without worrying about anyone else.

Oh, and did I mention that the new person I met is a swing dancer (and also one of the friendliest people in the universe)? Well, she is. And now yours truly is going to be one as well! Or, at the very least, I’m going to a swing class on Wednesday. And maybe a tabletop game night on Tuesday? And Shakespeare in the Park on Thursday? Apparently I am now a person who makes plans and I do not hate it.

I feel I would be remiss if I did not mention that I have had very little to do with my recent transformation. I’m supplying the willpower and the thirst for adventure, but I truly owe a lot of it to my Gandalf. He is the one who found me in my hobbit hole and introduced me to the dwarves. He is leading the quest and keeping it on track. I’m simply along for the ride!

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[Oh, and for anyone interested in the burlesque troupe, check out the Vixens here. The show was absolutely incredible and I highly recommend going if you ever have a chance–their next show isn’t until October, though, unfortunately. I wish I could show you pictures, but there was no photography allowed at the event. My inner photographer died a little; I had a perfect vantage point and could have gotten some amazing shots. Sadly, all the pictures exist only in my mind]

do be do be do

Tags

goals, things i am going to do

“To be is to do”—Socrates
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra

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I am going to be open to new experiences and to new people.

I am going to be open to failure.

I am going to embrace my inexperience and be willing to learn.

I am going to ask questions and listen to the answers.

I am going to admit ignorance and fault, if need be.

I am going to help when I can and comfort when I can’t.

I am going to seek out joy and peace and beauty and light and truth and love.

I am going to foster compassion and sensitivity and tough love and all things necessary for a mindful life.

I am going to be aware of my body–of what I put into it, and of the amazing things I can get out of it.

I am going to appreciate positive relationships, in all of their many forms, and I am going to cut the negative relationships from my life.

I am going to be tough and capable and gentle and vulnerable.

I am going to be contradictory, captivating, and colorful.

I am going to be honest about my needs, my desires, my dreams, and my plans.

I am going to do everything in my power to make this a life well lived.

We Shine

Tags

color run, color run 2015, louisville KY, shine tour, the happiest 5k, we shine

“What makes you happy?”

About halfway through the Color Run yesterday morning, we came upon the Happy Wall. Normally, a question like that would spark at least 20 minutes of internal debate, but luckily there simply wasn’t time for that. Instead, I wrote the first thing that popped into my head: “Trying new things.”

It wasn’t until after the race that I realized how profoundly true that answer was. There are so many other possible answers: my family, my pets, good food, a good book, coffee, tea, watching snow fall, a freshly made bed, good conversations, long walks, animals, the unique scent of autumn air, being loved, the first sip of ice cold water after being out the sun, and a thousand other little things. But I didn’t choose any of them. I chose the first thing that I thought of. And as it happens, the first thing I thought of was something that I rarely do.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been thinking about it so much lately, or maybe it’s just something that I’ve always known. Either way, it fits well with the current theme of my life (and this blog). My goal right now is to try as many new things as possible. At first I thought that meant big adventures, but maybe that’s not true. Maybe taking on small adventures is the way to go. I have always been the type of person to enter a pool one toe at a time, and I thought it was a mistake. But maybe diving in head first isn’t necessary. After all, the end result is still the same.

For now, I think the small adventure mentality is working. On Friday, I went out after work with two new friends and it ended up being the most fun I’ve had in a while. We didn’t do anything exciting–just a quiet bar with board games, beer, and stimulating conversation–but it was such a departure from the norm that it felt positively daring. Then there was the Color Run.

Interestingly, signing up for the race in the first place was part of my New Year’s resolution, which was to “make things happen.” I left this year’s resolution intentionally vague, which has served me well thus far. My hope was that it would be all-encompassing. I’ve lost sight of it a few times, but I’m getting back on track now.

At any rate, I registered for the race on January 1st and convinced two friends to join me soon afterwards. When I registered, I had no idea that the timing would be so perfect. In fact, I had nearly forgotten about the race until I received an email about the registration packet.

The race itself was so joyful. Everyone was happy and colorful and no one seemed to care how fast or slow anyone else was moving. It was all about how colorful we could be. I didn’t even see a clock at the finish line. It was such a fantastic experience and a great way to celebrate the small adventures.

Now excuse me while I go pick glitter out of my hair and scrub the remaining blue dye off of my arm!

(L-R: Me, Ashley, Shelly)

Adventure Awaits

Tags

adventure, hobbits, life, new experiences, Peace Corps, travel

“Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life – well, valuable, but small – and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven’t been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn’t it be the other way around?”- Kathleen Kelly, You’ve Got Mail

I must have heard that quote a thousand times, yet it still resonates with me. My entire life up to this point has been defined by experiences lived vicariously, through movies and books and stories told by those who are more willing to take risks.

I want to be brave. In my wildest dreams, I would join the Peace Corps or find some other opportunity to explore the world. But my life is comfortable. It’s familiar. I have friends and family who love me, a good job, and pets who depend on me. 

Still, I need to challenge myself. I need to find the strength, bravery, and willpower to resist the familiar and try new things. I need to stop dreaming and start doing. And I need to do it now.

But what does that mean? I don’t want to sell everything I own tomorrow and buy a one-way ticket to somewhere halfway around the globe…or do I? I can’t be satisfied with the status quo anymore and I certainly don’t want to look back in 20 years and regret my life. But at the end of the day, I’m afraid. Of what, I’m not quite sure. Change is difficult, but it’s the only way to grow. I know this, yet still I am hesitant.

What reason do I have to step outside of my comfort zone? Do I even know where I would go or what I would do? Do I have the means to make it happen? What constitutes adventure? Rumor has it that every day can be an adventure if you approach life in the right way. But is that enough? Do I need a bigger adventure?

These are the questions I will explore in the coming days. I sense a grand adventure ahead, but I haven’t yet figured out what form it will take. In the meantime, there are a thousand different things I can do to make an adventure out of my daily life. Step one is learning to say “yes.” Too often, I hesitate to try anything new. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and I’ve determined that the root of all my hesitation is fear. I’m challenging myself to put aside that fear and try everything that is available to me. The worst that can happen is that I make a fool of myself and, let’s face it, I do that all the time anyway, so I may as well gain something from the experience.

A friend recently compared me to a hobbit, which may be the most insightful description of myself I have ever heard. I am very much a hobbit in the traditional sense; the comforts of home and routine are paramount (and I never turn down second breakfast!). However, as we all know, hobbits are quite capable of adventure once they have been given a shove in the right direction. As I write this, the dwarves are knocking and Gandalf is on his way. Adventure awaits, if I am bold enough to open the door.