I’m shaking your tree with this blog post, Heroine. I’m knocking down those acorns and scattering those fall apples onto the ground. I’m setting those colorful leaves cascading down. It’s wake-up time and I have a BIG invitation for you!

Can you hear your future calling?

We never know what’s around the corner, do we — what Life is going to ask of us next?

I’d like to promote you to senior manager.

I’m traveling to Italy.

Want to come with me?

You’re fired!

I want a divorce.

We have to move so I can find a job.

I’m pregnant!

How do you feel about my mother moving in with us?

Join me as a partner in my new venture.

Would you go out with me?

Why don’t you try NaNoWriMo? (More on this one later!)

Life calls to us. Our future rings the bell, heralding a change – or the potential for change – the potential for our self-development. We get to respond to that call. How we respond is often dependent upon our muscle development.

Muscle development?

Your Leaping Muscle 

Yes, I’m talking about your leaping muscle.

You know, it’s that muscle you use to do something that you’re not used to doing. It’s the muscle you use to leave your comfort zone. It’s that muscle you use when you get up the nerve to jump into icy water. It’s that muscle you use when you sign up for a dance lesson when you’ve always been told you have two left feet.

Did you know you can exercise this muscle so it gets stronger? Why would you want to? Opportunities come up. You’re more prepared when Life calls you to do something new or hard if you’ve practiced getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Doing things that take you out of your ordinary life stretch you and help to get you ready for handling whatever is around the corner.

Confidence and courage develop…the assuredness that you will be OK, no matter what (better, even!).

How to practice? 

I’m so glad you asked! I have just the thing for practicing leaps and strengthening your leaving your comfort-zone muscle and I believe it’s actually fun!

It’s fun because we do it together! It’s called The Comfort Zone Challenge.

How it will work:

Each week, you will receive an email with instructions on what to do to build your capability to leave your comfort zone…to build your courage to take the steps needed to get you ready for your next life adventure.

Week one of this seven-week challenge begins on Halloween! October 31st. The last week is the week of December 14th – when we’ll be celebrating all kinds of stretches outside of all kinds of comfort zones.

Things to keep in mind:

I’ll be reminding you that you’ve left your comfort zone before – many times. You have already a pretty well-developed leaping muscle. (I don’t know why but women often forget about the amazing things they’ve done.)

I use the word “leap” when referring to what’s required to leave a comfort zone because often it requires major energy to move yourself out of an old pattern and into a new trajectory. But maybe it’s a giant step and not a leap for you. And yes, we’ll all approach it differently. For some leaps, you just have to hold your nose and do it. But other leaps can be done incrementally. You can test the water and sort of meander your way in. Dip your toe in – try it out. However it works for you if it gets you out of your comfort zone that’s the point!

There are many kinds of comfort zones. You’ll all work with different ones, in different areas – like creativity comfort zones and physical fitness comfort zones and social circle comfort zones, and educational, travel, relationship….these places of comfort are found everywhere.

Because we’re all different and we’ll be experimenting with stretching with unique challenges, I will remind you during these seven weeks not to compare. We’ll be sharing our leaping stories but not comparing! Hers is harder than mine. Mine is harder than hers. Heroines don’t compare! It’s a surefire extinguisher for all kinds of initiatives.

And we’ll be talking about fear because any venture outside of a comfort zone (the Heroine’s Journey term for comfort zone is Ordinary Life) invites in the dreaded Threshold Guardians. Those are the voices inside your head, and even the people around you, who feel the need to warn you…like this:

You’re too busy. 

You can’t do it.

What about us – you don’t have time for us as it is.

What’s the point?

Etc.

Oh, yeah, Heroines – I’m doing it, too!

Those are exactly what the Threshold Guardian voices said to me in my head when I decided what I was going to do for the Challenge. Oh yes, I’m doing it, too!

What’s my Ordinary Life? I am a life coach. I work with women who are interested in growing and developing to their next level. I coach them about leaving their comfort zones – using the metaphor of the Heroine’s Journey – which is all about leaving your comfort zone and going into the unknown which challenges and tests you and you wind up, at the end, having learned a ton, changed, transformed. It’s a path that’s been laid out for us humans for years – thousands of years, actually. It’s been in our literature – and it’s found all over the world – this pattern called the heroines or hero’s journey.

What’s The Call – well that’s when you keep getting an urge to do something, to make a change…it can come from within you…it can come externally – like something happens to you that makes you choose to make a change – to do something outside of your Ordinary Life.

People have different ideas about where these calls come from. I believe they come from our souls. You know how a tree knows when it’s time to put out a branch here or a branch there as they grow…Well, a call for humans is like our inner tree saying it’s time to grow up and out. Here’s how…

I Got A Call 

So, do I think I’m getting a call?

Yes.

Who from? Well, NaNoWriMo. 

What…?

National Novel Writing Month…I’ve been intrigued with NaNoWriMo for a long time. The first time I heard about it was from Angela who worked in a company that I was consulting with. We were having coffee. I was floored when she told me she had just finished writing a novel in a month!!

What? I couldn’t believe it. I was so impressed.

That was about 8 or 10 years ago. Fast forward to 2021…I have written my own non-fiction book, You Are a Heroine: A Retelling of The Hero’s Journey. I’ve started a blog, teaching about the Heroine’s Journey and related topics for real-life heroines. I founded The School for RealLife Heroines with my online course, Your Epic Journey of Transformation. You can deduce that I’ve done a lot of writing. But not novel writing – not creative writing.

And I have a podcast. I just interviewed, author Kathy Swaar for my podcast. And Kathy, you guessed it, also wrote a novel in a month as part of NaNoWriMo – two years ago and now it’s almost ready for publication, Sophie.

The knocking of my inner call to do this has been getting louder and louder as have my Threshold Guardian voices.

You don’t have time.

You won’t be able to do it so you’ll fail.

You can’t write 50,000 words in a month.

You are the hostess for 20 people for Thanksgiving – what are you thinking?

Gather the Sisters!

So, what do you do when you need support and encouragement? You gather the Heroines! You invite them to join you with whatever they need support and encouragement with – their leaps.

I’m inviting you, dear sister heroines to my Comfort Zone Challenge - a seven-week Challenge. Please join me!

Can we do this? Can we fit this in with all the other things we’re doing?

What would a Heroine do? She would not listen to those Threshold Guardians. She would step right up to that Threshold – the Threshold that separates Ordinary Life from The Heroine’s Journey – and she would make the leap.

Here, take my hand – hold your nose if you have to and let’s do this – together!!

See you on Halloween! Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success!