Look at me. Here I am. Right where I can blog!

Remember that song from The Muppets? (@ 1:28)

And what better way to start a blog about being who you are where ever you may be? After all, where ever you go, there you are!

So after much contemplation and fighting over a name, I finally have my own blog. Thanks to those who have encouraged me, and those who helped me to pick a name. I greatly appreciate it.

But what is Living Daringly, you might ask?

It could be so many things and different for everyone. Some days it is just getting out of bed. Others it might be submitting a journal article for publication after receiving a (or many) rejection(s). Perhaps it’s reaching out to a friend when you need help with a problem, when normally you would keep it to yourself. Or perhaps it’s reaching out to a friend who seems to need help, when you normally wouldn’t want to intrude. It could be sharing a poem or a painting that you worked really hard on. It could be saying “I love you,” or saying “I don’t love you.” Or maybe it’s starting a blog and putting some of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas out there for the world to love (or ridicule). 😉

Generally I think of living daringly as going outside of your comfort zone. We often think of a comfort zone as a good thing (purpley, blue, and green areas in the top left of my above painting), and if we venture too far outside of our comfort zone that we instead enter a danger zone (yellow, orange, and red areas in the top left of the painting). But if we never venture outside of the comfort zone, we can become complacent. We begin to take things for granted. We keep the status quo, good or bad, because it seems safer than venturing into the unknown. And that’s when a comfort zone becomes dangerous (see the flip-side of the painting-bottom right).

Dr. Brené Brown did a great TED talk and wrote a fantastic book on the topic of vulnerability (in fact her book title, Daring Greatly, was the main inspiration for the title of this blog). Opening up and putting ourselves out there often takes us outside of our comfort zone. Talking about what we need and what we want in relationships can feel awkward. But if we never put ourselves out there, we never reap the rewards of love, triumph, adventure.

When I read the first pages of Daring Greatly, I cried. Sobbed like a baby… Because, I thought, I’m not alone. That living daringly is hard and can feel isolating at times, but the rewards are so worth it.

And the rewards have been worth it. My relationships with friends and family are becoming healthier. I am able to state what I want and need in my interactions with people. I’m learning that I can do a lot more than I ever thought I could, because I’ve turned down the volume on those negative voices that say “can’t” and “shouldn’t.”

And that’s what this blog is about. I’m not perfect. I make mistakes, and there are days that I’m sad or angry or lazy. But I’m learning that even with those less-than-perfect parts of me, I am enough (as Brené would say). I am enough. And so are you. And we’re all in this together. We are enough.

And we can all live daringly.

Namaste.