A Change of Scenery

wow, there's nothing like a change of scenery to bring life in to perspective.

as many of you know, 3 weeks ago we packed up our life and moved to the Texas Hill Country. just cuz we wanted to.

moving is hard work. even with a great support network of a top-notch moving company, efficient service people, great housekeepers, and family it's still a lot of work to settle in to a new "normal" 1,000 miles from where "normal" was a month ago.

there's soooo much to be grateful for ... but the most profound experience i've had, to date, in the Texas Hill Country (other than more armadillo encounters in my backyard than i choose to recount) is the fresh perspective on my own life i've chosen to embrace.

i believe it's because, in many ways, me and my family are WAY outside our comfort zone.

everything is new.

like the cicadas (i.e. locusts) nearly deafening whir at night. i grew up with a locusts so, to me, it's a familiar, almost welcome sound. my kids, however, have experienced nothing more than a bug-less Colorado upbringing.

"WHAT'S THAT NOISE??????", they ask. "CUZ I DON'T LIKE IT".

late last evening we were standing in the far-reaches of our backyard, which abutts a working ranch. riley was asking me what lives back there and i was telling her i hoped it was coyotes, which are an armadilloes only natural predator, when a deer went racing past with two coyotes in hot pursuit.

cool.

we were rooting for the deer, by the way, as a hungry coyote is, hopefully, an armadillo-eating coyote.

to put it in john's words, "they creep me out".

ahhh, i digress.

so a fresh perspective, getting our of my comfort zone, has caused me to confront, and embrace, some deep-seated areas of my life that i've allowed to hold me back:

my vision, my mission, my purpose, has been small and mostly self-centered.

with the freedom i have to pick up and move anywhere, i'm inspired and motivated to share those possibilities with others.

you too can live the dream.

whatever that dream is for you.

to a certain extent, i WANT to somebody to take care of ME. oooh, not pretty.

to put it in Andy Andrews' terms - there are areas of my life where i have rejected embracing a "buck stops here" mentality.

owning that publicly is the line in the sand.

my life is mine and only mine. only i get to decide how it looks and feels.

the buck HAS to stop with ME.

not my husband. not my mom. not my business associates.

me.

it's mine. i own it.

a lack of faith in my ability to have, do or be anything.

i still had myself in a box, so to speak.

don't get me wrong, i'm celebrating the outrageous growth i've experienced over the past 3+ years BUT this is a journey, a constantly evolving and changing experience and maybe it's in the times of "stress" (like moving a long way away from all things familiar) that brings up the limitations in our life that are masked when we get too comfortable.

so i'm playing a bigger game, as of right now.

this has been rattling around in my head, now i'm putting it on "paper" publicly and declaring that i'm raising the stakes.

playing big.

casting off the thinking small that's held me back.

aunt bea says "hey" and, in case you're wondering, armadilloes taste yucky.