Dear Chris,
Yes, you can definitely come to my live seminar. But if you do I would like you to share your story with people. You have an interesting story.
Dr. Jack
ummmm….. Ok….. Yeah…. About that…….
That’s how it all started. I had been working with Dr. Jack a few months and I wanted so much to meet him. We had been working virtually, but I wanted to meet him in person, to talk to him face to face. I knew he was hosting a live seminar in January, and I asked if I could come.
I am pretty much a shy kind of person. I have never needed or wanted to have attention. As I tell people, I am a teacher, we help kids get on a stage and then we clap the loudest. But to get up there ourselves, no thanks.
This would be a big step out of my comfort zone.
Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow when you are uncomfortable.
All I kept thinking the day I did it was, “People are going to look at me and see I have tons to lose, so how am I a success story?” But after it was over, many came up to me to talk. And then I realized that I didn’t need to be done or perfect because people could relate to my journey. And in many ways, I realized that they saw themselves in my struggles.
When we talked about it after, Dr. Jack told me, “You know what would make a great book? Take all those emails you wrote to me and write about them.” A book?? I am a teacher, we read books, not author them. I don’t know the first thing about writing a book. But I just couldn’t shake that thought. That’s how I ended up writing this blog. It, too, was a big step out of comfort. It meant sticking myself way out there for everyone to see. It meant sharing the ups and downs, the private thoughts you think no one could relate to at all. Scary…. But I did it.
Then yesterday, I am at school, and a fellow worker comes up and asks if I saw an article about myself in the West Seneca Bee. What?? Last month, Dr. Jack had asked me if I minded if he used my picture and our emails for an ad. Thinking he meant like Amherst, where no one knows me, I said it was great.
I look at the article and see, yes, it is in the West Seneca Bee, and I thought, “Lots of people know me here!! They are going to look at it wondering how I am a success story with such a long way to go!!” This is soooooo far out of my comfort zone, where is my comfort zone?? I lost it!
But guess what happened? Lots of people have been emailing me, asking if I can give them information. They are searching for answers and need help. And they don’t look at me the way I thought but rather as someone who is still on a big journey toward better health and healing.
I sat here thinking that if I could help one person to not suffer as I did? Then it is so worth being uncomfortable. Because when I was the one suffering, I had read next to every single blog, book, magazine, article, ad, anything to find relief and hope. It’s so worth it if one person does not have to deal with that.
If anyone spots my comfort zone, can you return it to me? On second thought….. Maybe I was just using it as a safety net. A place to hide away…..This place is a little scary, but I have opened the doors to new friends and new experiences. I think I am actually okay without it. If you find someone who needs it more, it’s okay to give it to them. The water is fine out here, come and join me. Hey!!! Maybe I should branch out to YouTube!!