On the Renaissance Period

Eight months post life-implosion and it seems like I tack something new I want to learn onto my list every month.

I’m firmly in the renaissance of defining myself anew after the transformation of trauma, which can seem indulgent and directionless, but the point is not what you try, it is the discovery process of trying.

After witnessing clients move through life post-trauma or after significant loss, it seems clear that the renaissance is a natural, intuitive phase of healing.

At the moment, I’m starting guitar lessons, studying options trading, and learning the art of bartending. Music, money and mixology. It doesn’t make much sense (and spoiler alert: I won’t stick with any of these new pursuits).

There is good reason for cracking open a book, attending a workshop, or apprenticing in a totally new (and maybe odd) industry.

Learning something new is outside of our comfort zone.

We get to be a fish out of our cozy round water bowl. It feels foreign, difficult, and awkward, like when I tried out a new yoga studio last week and inadvertently showed up for a headstand class.

When we challenge ourselves and persist, we inevitably tap into curiosity while expanding our resilience.

I honestly would have bolted out of that yoga studio if I hadn’t been there to connect with the instructor around a private event after class, but fate left me there surrounded by intimidating yogis standing on their heads.

First, the panic set in.

I wanted to run back to the sweet haven of my vinyasa comfort bubble, or perhaps hide in child’s pose for the duration of this unexpected torture.

I literally fell on my face a few times.

I felt awkward and embarrassed and utterly ridiculous. My brain immediately turned on me and went on and on about how I will never teach yoga because I can’t do a headstand.

And then, somehow, I was standing on my head.

I had learned something new. Both how to get into a headstand, and that I could.

My grin might have been upside down, but it was ear to ear. I rooted back into that sense of resilience; that mostly unwavering belief that I am capable, cultivated over many, many attempts at something new.

We can’t truly know our possibilities unless we continually play around at the edges of our perceived limits. 

Be curious. Be bold. Explore something outside your comfort zone, and then witness the ripple effect on the rest of your life.