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This week: Observations Outside the 'Comfort Zone Edited by: Fyn  
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A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.~~Denis Waitley
Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.~~Brian Tracy
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.~~Neale Donald Walsch
If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone,
then you are forced to expand your consciousness.~~Les Brown
We shall have no better conditions in the future if we are satisfied with all those which we have at present. Thomas Edison
A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown. Denis Waitley
If you remain in your comfort zone you will not go any further.~~Catherine Pulsifer
Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort~~ Peter McWilliams
We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.~~Max DePree
My Comfort Zone - A Poem
Author Unknown
I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I wouldn't fail.
The same four walls and busywork were really more like jail.
I longed so much to do the things I'd never done before,
But stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor.
I said it didn't matter that I wasn't doing much.
I said I didn't care for things like commission checks and such.
I claimed to be so busy with the things inside the zone,
But deep inside I longed for something special of my own.
I couldn't let my life go by just watching others win.
I held my breath; I stepped outside and let the change begin.
I took a step and with new strength I'd never felt before,
I kissed my comfort zone goodbye and closed and locked the door.
If you're in a comfort zone, afraid to venture out,
Remember that all winners were at one time filled with doubt.
A step or two and words of praise can make your dreams come true.
Reach for your future with a smile; success is there for you! |
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We are such creatures of habit...same things done in the same old way are comfortable, predictable and wonderfully safe. We know if we do A that B happens. We don't do C then D doesn't occur. Kind of boring. Yet moving forward requires taking steps outside the bubble of 'known and predictable.' As writers, we need to break through the bubble of safety, knock down the walls of uncertainty and leap through into the whole new, unknown, possibly dangerous and certainly different world that is waiting just beyond. It matters not if the world is a better one because until you try, take that leap of faith--you simply do not know!
Whether tis starting a new book, writing a poem for the first time, starting your own business, getting married or a plethora of other instances, it is stepping forth into uncharted (for us) territory. On the other side of a possibility are opportunities to to reckon with, chances to take and growth to experience. We each have our safe place and it can be most intimidating to venture forth. But being the adventurer can help us avoid stagnancy, complacency, and redundancy!
Ultimately, it requires confidence, being prepared and, um....guts!
Confession time. I have a meeting coming up in a few weeks. Those attending are incredibly intelligent, extremely successful and at the top of their game. They are well known and respected in their fields. Initially I was --can you scream-- intimidated? Was there any question of my going? Absolutely not! Because I know this is an opportunity where I can absorb and learn and be the better for it. Still...doubts crept in and self-confidence went running for the basement.
Discussing this with two individuals whom I greatly respect and admire, I was told several things, which, upon reflection, are absolutely correct! One told me that I'm as smart as anyone and smarter than most, that he had total faith in me and that I can hold my own with the best of them. He said to go, be myself and I could have as much to offer in my own way as anyone one else. Husbands are marvelous creatures!
The other, he who is the one who invited me to the meeting, who has an inordinate amount of faith in me and who is the brains behind this endeavor, told me that the reason he wanted me there is because I have a creative mind, basically think outside the entire pile of boxes and that I have much to offer. He agreed that I would learn a lot, and I will simply based on the caliber of individuals who will be there.
Great. But I am still scared to death. And... that is a good thing. Because, to do what I need to do, for both me and my company and for this new venture, stepping out of my comfort zone will be that catapult to something bigger and better! The fear could be a stumbling block to hold me back, but I will make it my stepping stone to achieve my goals and go on to brighter things because I know I have much to offer in a variety of capacities and that I can do this.
So don't be afraid to try new things whether in your life, your goals, your writing or anything else. Use it to fire your motivation, to let you burn fiercer and to let you shine. Write that poem, finish that novel, sing that song, enter that contest, nail that meeting, finish that race: go for it. Far better to try, to give it your very best shot than to look back and wonder why you didn't. Far better to have tried than to look back at a miserable pile of shoulda-coulda-woulda-hads. As my hubby told me--have the faith in yourself that everyone else has in you and you won't fail--because at the very worst...you will have had the guts to try!
Which reminds me of a poem by Edgar Guest that hangs in my office and which I read again today:
It Couldn’t Be Done
By Edgar Albert Guest
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
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Responses from my Observations of a Cluttered Desk Newsletter...
Mark Allen Mc Lemore  writes: Oh how I wish I had a desk to clutter then clean, clutter then clean...Great newsletter, thanks.
Merry_Mikey  says: I enjoyed this month's newsletter, Fyn. The second to last paragraph really struck a chord, too. Although I don't have an actual desk overflowing with notes, drafts, ideas, etc., I do have various text documents that serve the same purpose, but are still reminiscent of your desk. Finding the .txt item is easy; finding the one that has the bit of trivia / info I'm looking for - not so much :)
drjim adds: Well hall-oo Fyn! Fine work, this NL, again filled with those underpinnings of thought processes that tells us WHO we are, WHAT we do, WHERE we dream be ... and then some. It cae so clearly to me, too, this newsletter about that most personal of places - one's own writing desk. To be sure, if we take a look at the archeological technique of the current day, using said techniques can yield AMAZING finds on how a writer thinks, what they value and so much more. I love this NL because it made me smile, made me think of mine own Mother, gone from me since the Winter of '77-'78. We could write complete biographies on such amazing women, could we not? In a true sense, to do so would be writing autobiographies of our own selves.... Once again, your world since putting the 2012 Anthology out into circulation all reflected just how much time you needed to 'git 'er done'... great work! And, as always, keep writing dearest Fyn, keep writing! The Great Spirit bless you richly and always, Dr J
thank you!
monty31802 ponders...A fine Newsletter. Accidentally found, Great and in a few days- Where did I put them?
ember_rain comments: That is just to good. I have the same problem. It's not my desk though. I use my laptop on one of those lap table things for the bed. So that is never cluttered. However, hubbies desk is the top of the dresser I haven't seen in months. I can at least walk across the room without killing myself since Bear insisted I spend at least an hour a day cleaning something. It isn't too clean though. If it's too clean, like you I get nothing done. I can't even bring myself to pick up a pair of shoes and put them back where they go. I mean, I'm not tripping over them. They are fine where they are until I do trip over them to keep from stepping on something else. Then, I need to clean... Just not too much.
Quick-Quill  writes: -Moving again. Second time in less than a yr. Going through boxes and trying to throw out stuff. Hubby put two boxes out for me to condense to one or none. I opened the first to find half the box the writing reference books I didn't find in the last move. I re-boxed and said this does NOT go to storage. 2nd box had glassware I may not use, but can't give away, yet. Not sure I can even sell, who would but them? Love this NL you're my kind of woman!
awwww -- smile
Silverwindrose Dragon Minstrel adds: I know just where you are coming from when you cleaned your desk up and put every thing away. It was like you cleaned up the thoughts and found the folders to put them in. Your husband coming in with new things to put on your desk was some of your mind folders reopening so that you could work with what is there once more.Now I might be wrong with what I have come to understand from your story. Even though this has happened to me in just the same way.
Well, on one level I was being quite literal...but on the second level...you got it!
Walkinbird 3 Jan 1892  comments: Thanks for the good read (newsletter contents) and the worthy-of-reading "picks" you've supplied.
We editors try! Thanking those who responded to my last newsletter. Nothing quite like going in to see if there are comments and finding that folks took the time to respond to a newletter...I'll tell ya...it really warms the editor's hearts to see responses and feedback to the time, effort, and love of craft we pour into them! --Fyn |
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For Authors: April 10, 2013 Issue [#5610]
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