S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g
Not in the hold-that-pose-for-30-seconds kind of stretching.
I mean the stretching that causes you to leap beyond your comfort zone's outer limits.
Life is busy. A perfect excuse for not stretching. After all, taking risk requires more effort and time than sticking to what we know. Add to that the strain of weighing all those what-if scenarios.
Any wonder we stick to routine.
Sure, familiarity breeds comfort and a sense of security. But, beware the trap. When everything comes to you too easily, you risk stagnating.
Take if from me, stepping outside that comfort zone can be as exhilarating as it is frightening. Even if you don't succeed on as many levels as you would within your usual sphere, it’s uplifting to just push the boundaries of your comfort zone.
For example, I'm taking baby steps outside my comfort zone. During November, you won’t see two to three random ramblings per week, because I’ll be engrossed with s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g.
How? NaNoWriMo. That stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is an annual event to challenge people to draft a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.
I mean the stretching that causes you to leap beyond your comfort zone's outer limits.
Life is busy. A perfect excuse for not stretching. After all, taking risk requires more effort and time than sticking to what we know. Add to that the strain of weighing all those what-if scenarios.
Any wonder we stick to routine.
Sure, familiarity breeds comfort and a sense of security. But, beware the trap. When everything comes to you too easily, you risk stagnating.
Take if from me, stepping outside that comfort zone can be as exhilarating as it is frightening. Even if you don't succeed on as many levels as you would within your usual sphere, it’s uplifting to just push the boundaries of your comfort zone.
For example, I'm taking baby steps outside my comfort zone. During November, you won’t see two to three random ramblings per week, because I’ll be engrossed with s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g.
How? NaNoWriMo. That stands for National Novel Writing Month, which is an annual event to challenge people to draft a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.
To that end, I'm writing approximately 1,600 words per day, along with 300,000 other participants who will spend November crafting their own works.
I’ve written a children’s book, poems, blog posts, memos, speeches, briefing notes, essays, emails, success stories, summaries, reports, plans and countless other forms of corporate communications and marketing publications, but until now, I’ve only let novels, or the makings of them, bounce around in my head.
The beauty of NaNoWriMo is that there’s no pressure to share the results of your labour. That’s freeing. Without aspiring to be a published novelist, I can merely knead my grey matter and delve into the depths of my imagination at will.
I find this NaNoWriMo exercise stimulating. In the wee hours of the morning, my scribbles remind me of why I enjoy writing. During my NaNoWriMo time, thoughts of the day-to-day grind are swept away as I s-t-r-e-t-c-h, leaving negativity and languidness to eat my dust.
AWESOME!
We turned our clocks back today. If you had an extra hour every day of the week, how would you choose to stretch? Comment away below.
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