Outside our comfort zone, we may find success.
by Andy Scheer
This past weekend, I tried something new.
I felt uncertain. While I knew the theory, I had to put those skills into practice. At first, things didn’t flow smoothly. I had to think about every move. But with time, I grew more confident. I began to enjoy the ride.
And what I ride it was! My father-in-law had invited me to drive his 1930 Ford Model A on his club’s fall color tour … up twisting mountain roads—some unpaved. Not quite in my comfort zone.
The past few years I’ve driven the car extensively … including co-driving a cross-country trip from Colorado to Michigan. But driving across Kansas doesn’t call for continual double-clutching and downshifting to negotiate steep hairpin turns. My knuckles were white.
By the end of the 60-mile trip, my uphill downshifting still wasn’t perfect, but I was doing better. Given another opportunity, I’ll gladly say yes.
I’ll think about my Model A mountain adventure this week as I begin a 14-hour solo drive to a conference. My goal of speaking to the group about fiction editing means another journey across the fringe of my comfort zone.
But I’ll be building on what I’ve done before. Like when I launched my website. I’d never been my own webmaster. But I combined what I already knew with some easily available instruction and gave it a shot. My site’s still not perfect, but it’s way better than nothing. And there’s a satisfaction in looking back and saying yes, I can do that.
