I am a writer. I have grand thoughts while grinding away on my upright bike. Admittedly, that’s because I’m listening to Les Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Sylvester Stallone yelling locker room halftime speeches on volume nine, accompanied by epic soundtracks.
I close my eyes, peddle faster at the crescendos. I apply football to writing, weightlifting to writing, boxing to writing, entrepreneurship to—you get it.
Here’s what happened. I decided I had to refresh my email. You know, in case that acceptance I’ve been waiting for is in there. Or the agent wanting to talk representation. More likely, it’s another online writing class advertisement (grrrrr).
If you were in my rec center, you’d see me take my hands off the handlebars, grab my phone, look at it, then sigh and peddle harder. Girl, can’t you even get through forty-six minutes of peddling without refreshing the inbox?!
I decided, before I’d check my inbox, I was going to force myself to do something outside my comfort zone. That’s what Les Brown said to do. I’m using my weakness in one area for good in another, yes?
I think yes.
As soon as I stepped off the upright, before the sweat even dried, before I could wimp out, I made a video. It’s short. It’s underwhelming. But it’s honest.
If you do something outside your comfort zone today, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
KL Griffiths 
Love love love this! I’ve been pondering doing live Facebook videos. But the life part and the video part kind of scared the daylights out of me. You always drag me to excellence. Way to be brave! and even if the people at the rec center thought you were crazy the people on this side of the phone thought it looked great!
Thanks, Nancy! I always feel like videoing after listening to motivational speakers. Sharing the love, maybe?
46 minutes is a awfully long time.
I don’t know why the increment is 46 minutes, but yes, some days it feels long. Others, it’s a snap. Depends on good videos. 🙂
Somebody told me she wouldn’t feel comfortable making a video. Hmmmm
Nice.
Thanks, Keith! I figured I like when other bloggers do videos, so I should give it a try. You should put a snippet of your acting on your blog.
I LOVE it! You are completely fabulous. How do you look so great after 45 minute on the bike? I would look, well, dead. You are inspirational. And, amen to your plan of doing something out of your comfort zone before refreshing. I’m like that on Submittable–like I can’t even wait for the email to come through. And it doesn’t mean I’m going to convince an “accept,” being so anxious about it. This has been a great reminder. Crossing my fingers and toes for those acceptances to come on through for you!!
You make me smile, Rebecca. I’ve felt strongly for a while that I wanted to share how much better I feel after peddling away to those guys. It’s a good counterbalance to the many hours spent sitting in front of the screen. I know it won’t work for everyone, but it has helped me. You inspire me with your author interviews. I’m far too shy. But maybe one day…
Crossing my fingers for you, as well. I know it’s just a matter of time.
Yes, counterbalance is a very good thing! Here’s hoping this is the year for both of us!
lol this was great. Thanks for sharing this! I think I’ll go refresh my email! 🙂
Hope you find an acceptance…haha!
Lol nope. Not this time lol
Nice post! It’s so hard, especially as a writer but we cannot be afraid to fail. We must have almost no fear of failure to keep going. Every rejection was a chance. No rejections mean we just never have tried, which is always a failure 100% percent of the time, at least I’m telling myself this as the rejections roll in, but I also know it’s true. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky.
Thanks for reading several of my posts. I look forward to checking out your blog. Best to you, too! It’s always nice to “meet” a fellow writer.
You’re welcome. And I’ll be back to read more! Again, good luck with your journey!