Keep your door unlocked so Opportunity doesn't need to knock!

My new summer mantra*: if you think you can't, then you MUST! 
I want to take advantage of every opportunity that's tossed my way. Lately I've had some AMAZING and (what I consider) rare opportunities that I would be foolish to have passed up. Some of them include: training for and finishing a marathon ( <--- i will blog about that one later), meeting up with a group of strangers for sushi,  snorkeling for the first time in a quarry, and being on the local morning news to talk about camping.
  
I said "no" to the marathon the first time Cathy, my good buddy, asked me to train with her. Frankly, I was scared I wouldn't be able to do it, I was scared of looking weak. It turns out that the marathon and especially all the training have, dare I say, changed my life! Or at least altered my perspective on life. Thanks for pushing me out and convincing me to train, Cath!

Sushi. With strangers. Sound weird? It wasn't! One of my housemates, the always lovely Leah, asked if I might have interest in coming with her to a "Meet up Lancaster" group, called the "Sushi Lovers". After inquiring where Leah was going that evening and hearing her hesitations, I praised her braverism in stepping out of her comfort zone to network with other folks in Lancaster. As Leah was about to embark on her networking pilgrimage, amid my encouraging "go get 'em's, and "you can do it's", she politely asked if I would want to accompany her. My first response was a definitive "No way!" After all, it might be awkward, I might not fit in, what if it's lame? I don't know the first thing about Sushi, and I FOR SURE do not fall under the category of "Sushi Lover"... besides, I'm allergic to shellfish! All of these were excuses rooted in fear. And what's my summer mantra*? So with a second invitation, Leah convinced me to come along. And it was a fun mini-adventure! Here's my shout-out to Vannessa (who I met at Sushi One, and who is super cool). You should follow your dream and you should start a' bloggin' SOON!!!


One fine day at Eastern MOUNTAIN Sports (emphasis on the mountain), good ol' SLM and I were talking about fears, particularly the CONQUERING of them. I expressed how I wanted to be a person who faced fears and was not held back by fear. Knowing my aversion to deep, murky water, Sami challenged me to try snorkeling. I always said I was a "fish out of water" in water, that i'm more of a mountain/ land type of girl, terrified of murky-depths. So, when Sami presented the opportunity to snorkel at her parents quarry I wrote it off right away. I didn't even have a desire to face that fear (or so I thought). But snorkel we did, and Oh! I had the BEST time! Maybe someday I'll get scuba certified (don't quote me on this). Thanks SLM! ...Actually the real reason I did this: I want to put one of those cool red and white scuba stickers on my car ;)


Lastly; the Local News and all things camping. My boss asked me last week, "what would you say to being on TV?" I responded, "No! I HATE being on Camera!" She explained the details and expressed how "they" wanted a sharp-looking (wink wink) female who knows a lot about outdoor gear to represent EMS on the local morning news, and that they wanted me to do it! Every time I'm on camera or even in photographs, I get nervous that I will look like a fool, or look ugly, or have bad posture, or do something embarrassing...and it will be documented for years to come. So I try to minimize the embarrassment by staying off the  films and cameras of the world.  However, given my mantra* this summer, I had to say yes! I have not yet shot the video, there is a possibility this won't even happen, but I said yes, and that's a step in the right direction on this pathway out of FEARtropolis! 


Fear and embarrassment were the things holding me back from first saying yes to all of the aforementioned activites. I'm so glad I went the extra mile, bit the bullet, dove in head-first...etc, etc...I'm thankful for the people around me who encourage such uplifting behavior. I want to do something a little scary every week! And i'll try not to worry about what others think. 


JOIN ME... comment here and tell me the things you have done lately that were wild, crazy, and out of your comfort zone. 


Remember; Have fun, take risks, safety THIRD! 

The Namesake of my blog!

Much like a suitcase, we carry our hearts around containing what is most important to us. No one knows what's inside unless we open the suitcase and share.
Posting my thoughts HERE will allow me to share with people that are not iN my immediate proximity. And for the people I see day to day, this space will allow me to gather my thoughts iN order to communicate  more openly. 
I thoroughly enjoy reading other friends' blog posts, and have been wanting to "blog" for years but just never started one. As my good friend once said, "A job begun is a job half done." So here it is, proof of a job half done! I used to be pretty intense about writing a journal, but that petered off after a while because it was super time consuming. I see this as a positive way to process out loud, so to speak, and hopefully gain feedback from friends; something my hand written journal doesn't do. 
Please Keep in touch to see what's iN My Suitcase-Heart!