Trying Something New...

There is this teenage girl in our neighborhood who rides skateboards. She has long blond hair that blows in the wind behind her as she rides down my street wearing shorts and sneakers.

I want to be her.

I don't want her hair or her youth (who would want to be a teenager again! Ugh!), but I do want to glide ever so smoothly, weaving back and forth down the streets of my neighborhood.

And so I've decided that one of the things I want to try this year is skateboarding. I want to be a skater chick. Minus the grunge, of course. You know my style--I can't pull off grunge.

In my opinion, the best part about trying something new is that it pushes me out of my comfort zone in a relatively harmless way. Because let's face it--we get pushed out of our comfort zones a lot for all sorts of things that are usually unpleasant. Like an unexpected layoff. Or a new baby. Or a sudden illness.


My theory is that trying new things on purpose--like skateboarding and knitting and learning the butterfly stroke (I still can't get my legs and arms to work together!)--gives us practice handling the unexpected, and overcoming steep learning curves. When I'm whizzing down the street on a skateboard with my husband running after me yelling "Bail! Bail!," I'm building character.

And wearing a helmet.


To put it simply, trying new things keeps us from getting too comfortable doing the same-old, same-old. We learn flexibility, which is a crucial skill for living life.

And of course we might pick up a few new hobbies in the process. And some scraped knees.

What would you like to try this year? Share your comment below!

Glossary of skateboard items, all from handmade sellers on Etsy.com:
1. early fall skateboard deck by amy ruppel
2. skateboarder 1 by stephen edward graphic
3. skate notecard set by little korboose
4. crawl walk skateboard onesie by kool kidz
5. recycled skateboard bangle by all deck'd out