“Losing yourself does not happen all at once. Losing yourself happens one no at a time.” -Shondra Rhimes, Year of Yes:How to Dance it out, Stand in the Sun and Be your own Person Last year, I read Shonda Rhime's brilliant book Year of Yes:How to Dance it out, Stand in the Sun and Be your own Person. She realized that she was losing out on a lot of living (and herself) by saying no all the time. So she pushed herself to say yes for a year. Although, not ready to take that challenge on fully, I did consciously decide that as I work on my life list, I would say yest to new experiences as much as possible. Well, today a chance to say yes and have a new experience walked in my door.
At the beginning of class, a student walked in and offered me a cookie. I decided to say sure. It's Friday and chocolate sounded like a need rather than a want. When the aluminum foil peeled off the plate, he asked again if I wanted a cookie. Looking at the plate, I suddenly realized that the joke was on me--the cookies had a little bonus in addition to the much desired chocolate--crickets had been added. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I would have been quick to say "No thank you" and laugh politely. Great joke. But today, instead of going to my instant no, I said, "why not?" I grabbed a cookie, took a bite, and thoroughly grossed out the teen girl in front of me. How was it? The taste was pretty meh. It was really like having a nut in a cookie. No big deal. In terms of experiencing life, it was amazing! It was the first time in a long while that I felt like I was living in the moment rather than living in the life of "should do". It was freeing (and fun to watch my teammate freak out when I said I'd eaten the cookie. It wasn't an experience I had planned on having on my list, but I am so grateful, I took the chance and said yes. I found a small piece of myself (being adventurous) with this one little word and that is the life I want to experience.
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AuthorAlmost 40 and tired of the treadmill, I am going to LIVE each day as a new adventure while finishing todo items on my life list. Mom, wife, teacher, geek! Archives
May 2020
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