Risk

I have been thinking a lot about "RISK" over the past year. Last January I saw a local television show where they were talking about how lots of people choose a word for the year. It is their focus. A few years ago there was a lot going on in our family - lots of changes. That year I had a word for the year. It was faith. Faith that everything was going to work out and be okay. It was the perfect word for me that year. That is the only time that I have ever done that. But back to last January they were talking about instead of having a word of the year to pick one for each week or month. That way you could push extra hard incorporating that idea into shorter periods. Also you would be able to use more than one word a year as well. They were throwing out ideas of words to use. I was only half listening until they said the word "Risk." For some reason that word hit me hard.

Actually I know why the word hit me hard. I like my comfort zone. I am happy in my comfort zone. However, I know that I am missing out on many important opportunities because of my safe zone. I don't risk much of anything. I don't look outside my easy friend group. I don't grow my friendships either. I never invite someone to lunch. I don't invite them to my home. I'm friends with them in our common area. Our jobs, volunteer or church groups, yoga class. Just a few examples of not putting myself out there. Even growing this blog took a back burner for a while. I even feel like I cook the same meals over and over and over again. My Pinterest meal boards are packed with so many ideas, but that takes effort and what if we don't like it.........I always have so many "good" excuses. But still they are excuses.

That's not what life is all about. It's about trying new things. Growing. Taking risks that might fail but they might be amazing. My comfort zone is just that, comfortable. But I am ready to try new things. Work hard at things that are hard for me. Grow my friendships. Grow my blog. Grow my meal plans. Grow my talents. Work hard to become better at things that don't come easily to me, but that I want to be good at.

As I said at the beginning that "Risk" is something I've been thinking about for almost a year. I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about things before acting when I'm not sure how to go about it. I've spent a lot of time contemplating this. Now my time to think is over. It is time to act. I'm excited for this new year. I'm not sure what will happen or how it will happen but I'm ready to break open my comfort zone and go from there! Here's to my action word for the new year - RISK!!