D52 – Do Things That Scare You

This summer, I had a conversation with each of my family members to figure out what their “Summer Dreams” list was… think bucket list for the summer. It’s important to me that I do what I can to cause a great family summer and this was a new twist. Everyone came up with several things and I worked hard to make them each happen. When it came to my list, however, not much happened on it. I thought that was interesting: I was so busy taking care of everyone else that I didn’t make my own summer dreams come true. Two of my favorite things on the list that never happened were to see 3 movies back-to-back in one day, and the other was to ride a Lime scooter. I talked about Lime scooters all summer. I did research, I downloaded the app, we even scoped out a few in Milwaukee, but never made the time for me to take a ride. I’ve never ridden an electric scooter before, but I just knew it would be something I totally loved.

Fast forward to fall. My daughter Anna has been pushing me to ride the scooter, even though summer is over. She lives in Milwaukee and there are tons around her college campus. Yet, once again, every time I was up there to see her, there was some reason I just didn’t have time to do it.

Finally, she put her foot down. She said she was MAKING ME DO IT, whether I liked it or not. We scouted one out and suddenly I was TERRIFIED. What if I didn’t know how to do it? What if I was too fat? What if I crashed and broke my hip? I kept telling her all of my fears but she just looked me in the eye and said “Get your ass on the scooter, Mom!” I WAS SO AFRAID. But I did it anyway. I didn’t crash, no one laughed at me, the scooter was sturdy enough to carry my chub. I had a total BLAST! (See short video on FB page.)

Afterwards, I thought long and hard about what had kept me off that scooter so many times, when I KNEW it was something I really wanted to do. The answer, of course, was fear. I was afraid. I was afraid I couldn’t do it or somehow I’d look really stupid… How many other things do I avoid doing because I’m scared (pretending I’m not) that I’m too fat or I might fail?

I saw this meme today and thought it was perfect for my blog. Isn’t it time we ALL start doing the things that set our soul on fire? Shouldn’t we begin MAKING time for things that delight us? Why are we waiting? As for me, I’ll be going to see 3 movies this Sunday… who wants to join me?

#summerdreams!