Every time “Dancing with the Stars” comes on again, I’m always a little mesmerized by the person you never guessed would be on the show. I’m impressed that Steve Wozniak poured himself into dance clothes and let himself be led across the stage every Monday night. I can’t get over the fact that Cloris Leachman wore that weird headband and no makeup and allowed the camera crew in to film her during her practice. I still can’t believe Jerry Springer was on the show, because a ballroom audience couldn’t be much further from his crowd. And Buzz Aldrin? At 80 years old? Holy Toledo. …
Yeah, I’m impressed.
This season it’s Kirsty Ally who seems to be the one who’s most uncomfortable. I find it strange that she never looks up (or even at the camera or her partner) during most of the interviews. But when the music goes on, man, she just takes off with confidence.
I’m really impressed that all these people can do something so outside their comfort zones.
Can you remember the last thing you did that was wildly outside your comfort zone? What was it?
I read this yesterday and was trying to think of something that was completely out of character for me, but the truth is – I haven’t done anything WILDLY out of my comfort zone. I can think of two things that “just weren’t like me”…
In highschool I ran for our town position as “Strawberry Festival Queen”. I did it with several friends, but it was not something I would normally do. I had to learn the runway walk for the fashion show, answer questions, do a dance routine and perform in front a big audience of people. It was very weird, exciting and scary for me, I still remember my lip quivering as I walked out on stage and all the bright lights were glaring at me, I was soooooo nervous!
The other thing was being a MaryKay comestics consultant. Make up is nothing new, but going into peoples homes and hosting “facials”, etc. was really different for me. I did it because I liked the make up and it turned out to be fun after I warmed up to it! I didn’t like being a pushy salesman, so it only lasted about a year – I met a lot of nice ladies though!
Your viewpoint of the participants on the “Dancing” program is interesting to me. I never looked at it that way. I had seen it as those people in the “entertainment” world that had been in the limelight for some time and now find themselves not in it and looking for a maybe a “Last Hoorah” or some amount of adulation from the “fans”. And of course there are a couple of some serious “wannabees”. It is very interesting to see them do things that they have not done before. I personally was not interested in watching the program, but this season the rest of my household got interested in it and now I am hooked on it too. We record it and then watch it together the next day. My mother-in-law goes to bed real early, so she wouldn’t be able it watch it “live”.
Now as for me doing something out of my comfort zone. I am not sure I have ever had a comfort zone for anything. I don’t think I have ever been nervous about anything. Now there are some things/activities that I like to do and I keep doing them, but nothing seems out of touch for me. Even back to my days as a field engineer going all over the world, I always seem to take on the jobs nobody wanted to touch. My Business Development/Marketing/Sales days the same thing, I took on the pojects other shied away from. It just seemed like the natural thing for me to do. This is not to say that I haven’t experienced stress, I have, but interesting enough I didn’t know it at the time. It was only afterwards when I reflected on it that it would seem that stress was involved, I just didn’t know it and kept going until I was done. I loved working against the clock/deadlines/etc. When it was time to test something after working on it or making a presentation, or sales pitch, to me the hard work had already been done. When my mind said it was “showtime”, the easy part was just beginning. I remember in my early days as I was preparing for a major organizational presentation to my company president, my immediate boss asked my secretary if I was nervous and she told him “he lives on adrenalin”. As true as this was, it is not a nervous effect, it is rather a calming effect.
Now about “Dancing with the Stars”, can we do something about those idiot judges?
Debi, I loved your stories about things you did out of your comfort zone!!! (I didn’t know either of those things about you!) I love that you ran for Strawberry Queen! (The funny thing about that is that the heroine in my next book says she was the Strawberry Queen in her town in Indiana — you’re going to like that part!) And also the Mary Kay thing — I can’t see you being a “pushy sales person” either, but I can imagine it was probably fun just to meet so many women and spend time chatting. Anyway, both of those experiences are great. And they both show that doing something that doesn’t feel quite like you can be exhilarating, huh? I have to remind myself of that, too.
Johnny — wow, I never thought about not having a “comfort zone” (or at least not getting too comfortable in one). That’s cool that you’re always sort of living outside of it, and the fact that it’s always successful for you (or always pays off in some way) must keep you there. That’s probably a great way to live, because it would keep you from passing up opportunities. As for the judges — hmm, I seem to remember not liking them when I first watched the show, but now I don’t mind them as much. But I LOVE the host, Tom Bergeron!
Outside of my comfort zone…..it would be letting my son go…letting him move out, not calling him each day to make sure he is going to college, going to work, being a good person. It was the hardest thing for me not to hear his voice each morning and saying good night each night. I just let him go… and that is not the kind of parent I am….or I thought I was. But I was looking at it all wrong. I now look at the wonderful young man that I brought up, who wants to be responsible, and support himself . My comfort zone is with all my children tucked in bed each night by us. My children will be taking me outside of my comfort zone, but that is the way it is suppose to be and I think I am ready for this new phase.
Comfort zone, hmmmmmmmm…
Well, I suppose the biggest thing for me in this regard was the time(s) I went “flying.” I had somehow heard ling ago about this “powered parachute” flying machine. Its like a stripped down go cart that is equipped with a propeller and a parachute and when the motor is on and the propeller is spinning it “inflates” the parachute. Think of that “fan man” guy…well I actually did that TWICE out at the tiny airstrip of an airport in Santa Ynez , Cal. You take about an hour of instruction and then they strap you in and you take off. Its all very real. You have to learn the flight signals and the airport flight patterns and adhere to them. Then you fly and its jet you thousands of feet up there flying by yourself. It was beautiful and exciting and I WAS SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!!!!!!
You have to understand that I’m deathly afraid of heights and flying. I still don’t know what I was thinking…
Oh, Debbie! That’s such a true comment about being taken out of our comfort zones with our kids!! I hope all goes well with your son — it sounds like you two really are moving into a new phase of your lives!
C — Ah, I remember that flying machine well. It looked like something the Wright Bros. discarded. I’m STILL shocked you got up in that thing.