Apr 26, 2011

V is for Vicarious

I have said this before: I need to start living my own life and stop piggy-backing of others. Operation: Inhibition Annihilation (O:IA) is a major part of that. In an effort to give myself some life skills, I am going to take on tasks that I hope will give me some independence, confidence, and self-reference. I have no idea what these things will be, but let's count becoming a server as the first of many self-imposed ego boosters.

Please, feel free to share stories of when you overcame a fear of doing something or worked hard for something and persisted until it paid off. Also, I'll take suggestions.

To clarify, I am not talking about sky-diving here (although I so want to do that, but it's way too expensive). And I am not talking about joining the military either (which I did want to do, long story).

Does this post make any sense? I am realizing it is quite vague. I am interested in seeing how you interpret it.

And just because - music from one of my writing playlists:

"Honor Amongst Thieves" These United States

10 comments:

  1. This may seem silly to some, but I'm not a confident driver. I refuse to drive in the city. My family takes a lot of road trips so I do a lot of driving, so even though I don't love it, I do it.
    Tomorrow I'm taking my son to a concert by myself, and I'm scared about the driving!!!
    I hate to say that I've totally not overcome my fear of driving places I am not familiar with or busy city; But I do test myself because it is something I just have to do sometimes!

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  2. And along with the driving, I'm terrible with directions so they go hand in hand. I got a little more confident when my hubby finally bought me a GPS after getting lost driving my daughter to her dr. specialist appt by myself!

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  3. You know my swim story...I was so afraid. This morning I went for a long swim. That felt good and it makes me more confident in other areas of my life, too. There's a very high diving platform at the US Air Force Academy and I'm trying to see if I can get permission to jump off it. I'll keep you posted.

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  4. Hmm, I would love to travel more, but can't really afford it. Soon, perhaps.

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  5. Dude, I love the new blog header! You are just all kinds of awesome. And hmm, I've got lots of experiences that forced me to step outside of myself.

    Becoming a professional opera singer even though my voice professor at university told me I had no skill and I should just quit.

    Doing In Vitro one last time even though I was sure it would be yet another failure (I got my incredible twin boys out of it so yeah, I'd say it was worth it!).

    Writing. 'Nuff said.

    So many more.

    Yay for you for embracing the new and different! And hey, then it'll be US living vicariously through YOU!

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  6. I've always had the stubbornness issue... if something seems complicated or difficult or makes me a little nervous, all the more reason for me to try it with gusto. It's the experience that is the most important anyway. "Success" or "failure" can be totally subjective.

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  7. I think being a server helped me get over a lot of my inhibitions. Also teaching at the theater camp I teach at in the summer helped me.
    Running also helped me. I wasn't afraid of running but I didn't see myself as a runner. I was a master at skipping gym class in high school. I started running because I loved swimming and I like biking and I wanted to do a triathlon. I don't think I'm ever going to be the first person to cross the finish line but my confidence has improved since I started running.

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  8. I'm like Kelly. I don't love driving in big cities. But I do it for work. And sometimes I have to do things at work, like argue a court case at the Court of Appeals, that terrified me. But doing it gave me confidence.

    You're going to school and getting in a writing groove so I think you're doing it too.

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  9. tell 25 people a compliment in one day. and mean it. *caution, this may appear as if you are ass-kissing. find people you wouldn't normally ass-kiss.

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  10. This totally makes sense. I think we constantly grow into our new shells, get comfortable in them and then have a hard time shedding them. No solutions here--I just try to look closely at the things I am shying away from and then hopefully move toward them. Yeah, I'm rambling a bit.

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:D