040: Comfort vs Growth (Tarzan Swing update)

Did I jump?  That is the question I will answer for you today.

In Episode 37: What Scares You? I told you that I was headed back to Costa Rica.  I had an amazing opportunity to go again and take my sweetie with me, so I couldn’t pass it up. 

Well, when I was there before, I gladly passed up the opportunity to do what they call the Tarzan Swing which is, in my opinion, a terrifying launch into a huge drop off, a basic free fall that turns into a gigantic swing.  I just couldn’t make myself do it last time. 

With this opportunity to go back to Jungle Camp, I got to reevaluate whether I would do the Tarzan Swing or not. 

I committed to you that I would.  I told you that I was going to face my fear and do it any way. 

I got back from that trip just a few days ago and I’m ready to report to you whether or not I was able to do the dreaded Tarzan Swing.

Yes.  YES!  I did it!

I conquered the crap out of that blasted Tarzan Swing!

Was it fun?

Oh HECK no!  Everyone kept asking me if I had fun. 

That is not my kind of fun my friends.  It doesn’t seem to be in my DNA to enjoy adrenaline type things.

Will I do it again?

Truth is that…… I don’t want to,

but I guess I would.

The only reason I did it this time was because I made a promise to myself that I would.

I keep promises to my friends all of the time and I am in the process of learning to always keep promises to myself.

That’s why I did it.

I recorded the following little snippet right after I finished the swing, so I am still pretty shaken up and in some parts I’m not really putting my thoughts together very well.  You may even hear a bit of shaking in my voice.  I decided to share it as is because that’s just the way I do things.  We gotta be authentic with each other, right?!

One cool thing about recording it right there in the moment is the noises.  Listen for the churping of bugs in the background.  That’s the constant jungle sound in Costa Rica.  I think it’s pretty cool.

There’s the truth of it friends.

The rappelling wasn’t my favorite either…but I did it. 

There were 5 different waterfalls that we rappelled down and before each one I kept saying to myself, I CAN do this.  I CAN do this. 

It wasn’t as scary as the Tarzan Swing and I was definitely more in control of what I was able to do, but I still didn’t love it. 

What I did love was the feeling I got when I accomplished each one.

I think you know the feeling, that feeling of accomplishment. 

I have learned to say good job to myself when I do something like this. 

I don’t wait for someone else to say it, I’ve discovered that I can do that for myself. 

If someone else gives me a high five or a good job, that’s icing on the cake, but I don’t wait for it or need it.  That hasn’t always been the case for me. 

In the past, I didn’t believe I had done a good job unless someone else told me that I had.  That’s no way to live. 

Now I recognize that acknowledgement has meant so much more when it has come from me. 

I don’t even know how to explain that but I know that it’s true. 

I hope you do that for you and if you don’t, I am giving you permission to start doing that TODAY! 

Are you struggling to do something and then you do it? 

Be the first to congratulate yourself. 

-Good job me! 

-Way to go me! 

-I know how hard that was for you and I am so proud of you for doing it anyway! 

Man does that feel good because I know that I really mean it. 

No one else knows how hard something is for you better than you so acknowledging the accomplishment means more because you know!!!

Here’s what I’ve decided in most things that I’m doing in my life. 

If I’m not a little bit scared to do it, then I’m not growing.

And I believe we’re meant to grow all the time.

It doesn’t matter in what way you’re growing,

How big or little of a step you’re taking,

It all brings growth.

If you stay comfortable, you’re not growing.

We are meant to move.

If you’re not moving forward, you’re going in the other direction.

I know how hard that can be.

Believe me, a few years ago and at random times even now, that hard thing can be just smiling at someone when you really just want to go hide in your bedroom. 

But choose to smile any way.

Sometimes that hard thing can be speaking up for what you want to do instead of just doing what everyone else wants to do.

Choose to speak your opinion any way.

Find a way to pull from the inner strength you have, even if it’s buried deep, to take that small step forward.

If that strength just isn’t there?

Be brave enough to recognize that your next hard thing is to ask for help.

Choose to ask for help.

Asking for help, when I was so depressed that my husband heard it in my voice and rushed home from work to make sure I was ok, took more bravery than jumping off that Tarzan Swing.  Truly it did.  And that was just a phone call to make an appointment.

Being brave isn’t jumping off Tarzan Swings or rappelling in the jungle.

Being brave is doing whatever it is that scares you.

I see you.  I know how hard you’re trying and I’m always here to help where I can.

What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?

Send me an email at marla@hunkeedori.com or go check out my post today on Instagram and tell me about it there.

I really want to know! 

If you’d like the see the video of me on the Tarzan Swing (and hear my screams and my husband’s funny/not funny commentary), go to my Instagram feed, join the hunkeedori facebook group or if you’re on my email list, you saw it there.  Not getting my emails?  There’s a link in the shownotes to join.

040: Comfort vs Growth (Tarzan Swing update)
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