Starting Over Again

A new chapter starts in my life on October 1. The family will be moving to Virginia. I like change. I really do. I guess I'm one of those weird people who loves change. While I love it, I also hate that I'm leaving really good friends behind. But I get another chance at starting over. A chance to redefine who I am. And that's a really cool thing.

How many of us get to start over again? Yes, if you get divorced or your spouse dies, you do get that chance, but that's usually not due to your control. I actually had a choice. I could have said no to Scott about moving, but I didn't. Because I like change.

If you have known me for any reasonable time, you know I get bored fairly easy. Not with people, but with circumstances in life. And that's not to say that I have exhausted all there is in Oklahoma. I haven't gone everywhere I wanted to in this state. But a change of pace, scenery, or whatever you want to call it, was needed.

So many of us are afraid of change. We love our comfort zone. It's warm and comfy and safe. And even though I love my comfort zone, I know that I can't stay there forever. If I do, I will become stagnant. An example from my life: I was about 41 when I decided to take dance lessons. Again. You see I took ballet lessons around 4 or 5 years old for a couple of years. I can actually remember one of my recitals. We were wearing Japanese kimonos and had fans! And I can remember being on stage with the bright lights. Anyway, as an adult I had always wanted to take lessons, but time, money and yes comfort, said otherwise. My daughters wanted to take ballet, so we did when we moved here to Oklahoma. One stayed in it, the other chose horses. A couple of years of watching, I decided I wanted to dance again. I did jazz (similar enough to ballet, but still different). Then the teacher talked me into doing hip hop! Talk about not being in my comfort zone! Yikes! Even though I was hideous at it (really all that popping was me, not the moves), I did it for two years. The last year I actually performed in two routines, hip hop and jazz. I had a lot of fun and proved to myself that change is good, but really hard sometimes. I really want to take tap and ballroom lessons next. We will see what Virginia brings to me.

My whole point in my rambling is that change is hard. It can be numbing to some people. I say that even though it scares the pants off you, you need to do it. Start slow. Take baby steps. You don't have to move 800 miles away from family. You could start by taking a drawing class, dance class or learn something new. Or go back to college after 20 years and finish your degree, like I did. Change is a very good thing. So set a goal to get out of your comfort zone. Or at least try one thing new. Something you have always wanted to do. Life is too short not to try something different.

Thanks for reading!