Jumping Out of My Comfort Zone

I haven’t been around for awhile.  Thank goodness for D.L. Hammons Blitzs which get me visiting and commenting a little bit.  

I’ve been busy reading a lot, writing some, and taking care of Jessica who suffered a concussion almost a month ago now and is just beginning to feel better.  It’s been a challenge keeping her spirits up when she was told she had to rest mind and body completely which meant no computer to write on and no reading.  One day she was in her room and said she was just staring at the ceiling.  :(

What I’m most excited about though, is what I did Saturday.  In my last post, from January, I said one of my goals was to take myself to a new level this year and Saturday was what I was referring to.  

Two months ago my much younger skating friend talked me into entering an adult figure skating competition with her.  It was crazy, I know.  I hadn’t competed in 25 years, but I’m on the ice every day to teach, so I thought maybe it was possible.  

We had lots of fun training together but as last week came to a close and our event neared, I began to worry I was over my head.  My lungs were on fire as I tried to make it through my three minute program and two of the jumps were still giving me trouble.  What had I been thinking?  But I was also excited. I had to concentrate on the things I was good at and enjoy performing.    

Then Saturday was upon us.  I was nervous and I knew I hadn’t trained as much as I should have because of all those other things in life that always manage to create road blocks. I was as ready as I could be at that moment in time and I just had to go for it.  

I’d like to say that as soon as I stepped on the ice all my nervousness melted away, but it didn’t. I was determined though, to enjoy each one of my three minutes and show what I could do.

Jumping out of my comfort zone!!

As my music played, time slowed and each movement flowed from my body.  I had time to think about how lucky I was to be there with my kids, husband, and parents cheering me on.  

What a moment.  

During the last minute, I took a deep breath both to calm my excitement and to not pass out during my big finish.

When the last few notes played and I struck my ending pose nothing else mattered.  I had done it!  A huge smile broke across my face as I bowed and skated off.  I knew I hadn’t skated everything perfectly but I landed all my jumps and did everything I had hoped to do.  

The scores didn’t even matter.    

Alyssa, me, Jessica, and my coach

What have you been up to?  Any big news?  A-Z is coming up are you participating?



Kathy :)

New Beginnings

Here we are at the beginning of a new year.

After reading many people's posts on Facebook and their blogs, it sounds like most of us are glad 2013 is finally behind us.

2013 did have some wonderful moments.  My husband and I took the kids on some great trips, we had the opportunity to visit friends we hadn't seen in ten years, Jessica got her book published, Alyssa joined a synchronized skating team, Ryan started playing guitar, and I worked a lot on improving myself by reading more and taking some classes.

For 2014, I'm going to try to take myself to a new level.  I have a number of goals planned for this year, some of which will take me completely out of my comfort zone.  I'm a little nervous about that, but I figure even if I completely fail, I will grow and learn from the experience.  I also have more simple goals like reading some of the classics that I never got around to and writing consistently for at least one hour a day.

I'm still not sure what to do about blogging.  I love interacting with all the wonderful friends I've met through this community, but sometimes I feel bogged down.  Blogging for me was supposed to help me write more in the hopes that I would finally get a novel finished.  But I spent so much time writing posts and visiting people that I lost sight of my actual writing.  Somehow, I hope to find a good balance so I can stay connected and have fun, but also get some work done!  I'd love to hear suggestions on how you balance the two.

Here's to a great new year full of adventure and accomplishment!

Thanks to everyone who supported me last year!
I'd love to hear what your goals are for the new year. :)

Kathy

Mile Marker 40

We all pass big mile markers on our drive through life, this morning I sped by number 40.  Some days it seems my car is racing past the blurred landscape of time; but I don't really want to slow down.  I love the wind in my hair.
I don't feel any different than I did yesterday.  I never do.  I don't feel wise; only now do I realize how much I don't know.  My son asked me if it was good or bad that I was leaving the 30s behind.  I don't know.  I'm neither sad nor happy.  I am thrilled that I'm not the 20 year old me anymore. (well maybe I'd like the 20 yr old body back)  Now, I have more confidence, more experience, and more focus.
As a birthday present to myself I've decided to come up with a short list of goals for my 40th year.  Here they are:


Finish writing and editing my novel
Work toward passing my last two skating tests
Read 60 books
Work on actively gaining knew knowledge every week: by watching iTunes U courses, studying a new language, or working on Khan Academy exercises 


I'm sure new goals will pop up throughout the year, but I would be delighted if I accomplished all of these by the time I pass 41.  


Have a great day!  


I'd love to hear your goals for the year!


Kathy :) 

Time Challenged

I've never been efficient with my time.  My husband always says I run around a lot but I don't accomplish too much.  OUCH!  But I've finally come to realize that he's right.  (It's hard to admit!)

How many times have I gone to the store three times in one week because I left my list on the fridge and I've forgotten an essential ingredient?  Or how about all the time I spend repeatedly searching for something that I know I left on the counter, instead of just putting it away in the first place.  Or how I make lots of lists in different places and then misplace the list and forget what was on it.  Then I search for the list!

Anyway you get the idea. I'm time challenged.  But it takes precious time to be more organized! I felt I couldn't spare a moment.  But I wasn't getting any closer to attaining my goals.

This year I knew I had to change if I ever wanted to finish my novel and accomplish everything on my 2012 goals list (which I put on the computer, so I can't lose it, hopefully).  So finally today, I enlisted the help of Google Calendar.  I made a list of all the weekly items I wanted to have and some that were simply necessity, like making dinner.  I carved out time for each one, starting with the my most important item.  I couldn't believe that after I put everything in, including an hour each day to do a quick clean up and 1 hr each week to plan, I still had some pockets of time that were free.  In fact on Tuesdays I have 4 hours open!  I don't know how that happened!

I'm not sure this system will really work for me, because I've never found any schedule I can really stick to.  But at least I know that I really do have the time to get everything done.  Now it's up to me to make it happen!

How do you schedule all you need/want to do?  I'd love to hear your tricks!

Kathy