Successful Blog

Here is a good place for a call to action.

My ass just tapped me on the shoulder.

by

Todays guest post is from Julie Roads.

Julie Roads of Writing Roads is a professional copywriter (specializing in blog, social media and web writing) and a book & blog ghostwriter. You can find her at Writing Roads (her writing blog), Soc Media 101 (how-tos and tips for beginners) and The Daily Norm (a collection of interviews with abnormally magnificent people about their normal, daily lives).

tap on the shoulderI’m standing on the other side of the abyss, the good side. And I wanted to let you all know that the ground here is high and dry, nearly heady.

Because I read your comments carefully – and because, as far as I can tell, we’re both human – I’m going to guess that at one point or another you’ve stood on the scary side of the abyss just like I did before I got to the cushy side.

You wanted to do something, you needed to do something…but the canyon that stood between you and accomplishment just looked too damn big, wide, menacing. Impossible, you said. And sat down.

My alarm goes off at 4:30. I jump out of bed and look out the window. It’s snowing. I smile smugly at the snow. Bring it, I think smugly. Pull on my layers of Capilene, my bright orange hat, my running shoes. And head out for an eight mile run before I go to work.

This used to be my norm. Miles run, laps swum, heart pounded, sweat drenched – before the sun rose.

And then my body abruptly took on new super powers forms of exercise: first, it grew another human being; then, it made milk. Needless to say, my body was preoccupied with performing miracles. Too busy to hit the trails or the pool.

But, last spring, something changed. My ass literally tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Um, I’m thinking we should shift things back into high gear…you?’

Which is when I realized that I was standing on that cliff. On the scary side of the abyss. I had a lot of reasons why I couldn’t take the leap:

  • I’m too old.
  • My body forgot how.
  • Once you get past a certain point, it’s just pointless.
  • I don’t have time.
  • I’m so frickin’ tired.
  • Have you seen my parents? (I love them and they’re beautiful, but they don’t have super model bodies. I’m just sayin’.)

In the middle of this tirade, I ran into a good friend who had just finished a long rollerblade, and she told me, “It gets you right here”, and she grabbed her butt. “Makes it burn,” she said. And my ass took notice. And, then it tapped me on the shoulder again. I took the bait. I didn’t think, just started to move again.

I had really believed all of my reasons why I couldn’t do this, but they just weren’t true. Bodies are amazing – they snap back in a way that is extraordinary. Minds do too. My ‘get up and go’ tape started playing again, as if I’d simply hit play again after a long moment with the pause button down. We both quickly forgot how long that moment had been.

Now, it’s been five months. And someone recently told me that my belly looks the same as it did when I was 16. Is that really true? Um, ish. Is it a miracle? Nah. I just think that I got way too comfortable on the pitiful side of the abyss. Too shlumpy to realize the infinite possibilities hanging out across the way.

Sometimes life feels like a series of cliff dives – scary, exhilarating, progressive. The above experience being just one of my abysses. For you, it might be finally going to law school, having a baby, getting up on that karaoke stage, or – drumroll, please – writing (creatively, professionally, bloggingly).

Whatever it is, I’ll save you a seat on the other side. Believe me, if you don’t already know, the view is fabulous.

Image credit: Scampercom

Let Your Self Join the Human Race

by

So Many Self Words

Personal Identity logo

Self-consciousness, self-promotion, self-sacrifice, self-preservation, self-abuse, self-indulgence, self-importance, self-deprecation

It’s hard to see words that start with s-e-l-f, without wondering how they relate to me — this individual self.

Self-esteem, self-centered, self-awareness — once upon a time those words didn’t exist.

It seems that self-respect, self-confidence, and self-control are stronger personal traits when they become respect, confidence, and control.

I’m wondering about the ego that fuels these self-oriented words. The list is self-serving and self-involved in that it’s used to define us. But is it a good thing to separate ourselves like that?

Looking glass

We might believe we have one relationship with ourselves and a distinctly different one with others.
I don’t buy that.
Look around.
You can tell what someone needs by what he or she gives away.

See how these “self” words throw us out of balance?

It’s harder to relate to people when we subconsciously see ourselves as separate from them. Imagine if we had no special “self” vocabulary — no “us” and “the rest of the world” words — simply words for all of us instead?

The words are stronger and more human without the “self.”
Conscious, promotion, sacrifice, preservation, abuse, indulgence, importance, deprecation, esteem, centered, awareness, respect, confidence, control, involved.

So I’ve decided. I’m dropping that “self” syllable. I’m becoming one of the whole. Are you ready to let your “self” join the human race?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!