So I think my therapist and the owner of my yoga studio might secretly be the same person.
Just kidding.
But I know one of the reasons why I love my therapist and yoga so much…
A lot of the dialogue in both rooms is the same.
There is a lot of talk about setting intentions and about moving out of your comfort zone.
One of my favorite yoga instructors begins each class by asking us to each close our eyes and set our intention for that class.
My therapist does the same thing. She asks my husband and I to set our intentions with each other and for our session with her.
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know I’m big on moving out of my comfort zone.
In therapy, the therapist asks my husband and I to do that with respect to behaviors that aren’t working for us.
Trying a new behavior or a new way of communicating with each other feels very uncomfortable, and that’s why it’s so easy for us (not just my husband and me, but all of us) to revert to our old, comfortable patterns. Even if they don’t work. Because moving out of our comfort zone, especially emotionally, is fucking hard.
That’s why I encourage people to move out of their comfort zones physically. Because I think it’s easier to make yourself do something that is physically uncomfortable than emotionally uncomfortable.
At least for me it is.
And that’s why I love yoga.
Yoga combines the two sides of physical and mental discomfort.
Physically you push yourself past your comfort zone in a pose, and mentally, you work to talk yourself through the discomfort.
The more you practice being okay with physical discomfort, the more it seeps into other areas of your life.
And that’s where I am this year.
My goal has been to do something that’s out of my comfort zone every single day.
I don’t know that I’ve achieved that goal 100%, but I’ve been close.
I do that pretty much every day physically, whether I’m doing yoga or running or swimming or in a spin class.
It’s the mental/emotional area where I still have more trouble being uncomfortable.
Particularly with selling myself.
I’m not sure why.
I’m not shy. I’m obviously outspoken.
But I have an issue with sales. And seeing that I still have the ultimate goal of supporting my family through this blog, I really need to be able to sell myself.
A couple months ago, I ran my first vendor fair, Not Your Average Vendor Fair, as a way of raising money for Not Your Average Weekend. And at this vendor fair, I met a woman from a company called the Traveling Vineyard.
Yes, it’s a direct sales company.
And I’m typically not really into those things.
I had tried one before. Southern Living.
I ordered the kit and everything. I hosted one party at my house. I hated every second of it.
Plus, I didn’t even like the crap I was trying to sell. Which didn’t exactly help the cause.
And I never touched it again.
But, the Traveling Vineyard was different.
Because it involves wine.
Free wine.
I like wine.
A lot.
I could work on the selling myself and get paid to drink wine.
So I signed on.
And then I sat on my ass for a while and did nothing.
Because getting started was uncomfortable. I was nervous and unsure. I was afraid to fail and not looking forward to approaching people.
I don’t remember what it was, but something lit a fire under me and I finally made a Facebook page for my new business venture (click here and like it if you haven’t already).
And from that I booked my first party.
Which was two days ago.
I had a bit of a hell week last week, which ultimately resulted in my spending the entire day on Saturday in bed.
And let me tell you, I have never been so unprepared or flown by the seat of my pants so badly in my entire life as I did at that party.
Two hours before I had to leave I was printing out papers and collating shit that should have been organized days before.
On the ride there, I fired as many questions as I could think of at my team leader on the phone.
And then I walked into the party and fucking winged it.
The woman who hosted the party has been a blog reader for a while.
She opened the door and said “I can’t believe you’re here! You’re like… famous!”
At the same time I was thinking, “I can’t believe I’m here either! I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing!”
And rather than trying to pretend anything, I went back to what I’m asked to do in yoga and therapy.
I took a deep breath.
And I set my intention for the party: I would be honest, and I would try to kick some ass.
I told everyone there that I was a virgin, that it was my first party, and that I was kind of clueless.
I also recalled seeing the number $1400 mentioned as some sort of record somewhere on one of the Traveling Vineyard Facebook groups I’m in.
So I also made that my goal. To have a total higher than $1400. And I told that to everyone, too.
Go big or go home.
I didn’t quite make it.
My total was $1001.
But since then, I found out where that $1400 number came from.
The Traveling Vineyard publishes a weekly newsletter, where it lists the top 5 events for the whole company each week.
My party would have been Number 5 on last week’s list.
There is a good chance my first party ever will make the Top 5 list next week.
For the whole company.
I fucking nailed it.
See what happens when you move out of your comfort zone?
You discover things about yourself. Things you didn’t think you were capable of.
Good things. Sometimes big things.
I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing yet. Maybe I can be good at sales.
I’m over selling myself short. And onto selling myself big.
Now who wants to book a FREE wine tasting?
Today’s post is sponsored by Designs & Signs
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