Today I wanted to talk to y'all about something that's been weighing on my heart lately....showing up.
I can't tell you how many times I have missed out on an experience, not done something I really wanted to do, didn't finish a project, missed an opportunity to serve someone else, etc. because I was too scared to even show up. I would talk myself out of doing something before I even started because I didn't want to look like an idiot, I didn't know anyone else who would be there, I was worried what other people would think, I didn't believe I was qualified enough, the circumstances weren't perfect, blah, blah, blah.
I had a laundry list of excuses why I shouldn't or couldn't do something and honestly each and every one of them was a load of bull. You know how I discovered this? A few months ago I invited one of my good friends to go to the Barnes & Noble Book Club with me at my local store. I told her I would pick her up at 6:30 PM so we would make it on time for the meeting at 7 PM. It had been a particularly long day and I accidentally overslept my nap alarm. When I woke up I was 15 minutes late picking up my friend! I sped off to her house and we make it to Barnes & Noble...late.
As we head up the escalator I can hear the group already discussing the book. Y'all, I panicked. I turned to my friend and said, "Amanda, we're running 15 minutes late and we don't know anybody and what if they think we're the worst people in the world because we showed up late and we've never been here before? Maybe we should just go home."
She looked me in the eyes and said, "Kelsie, that's ridiculous. We're going." And that was that. Thanks to Amanda I went and sat at that table and had a grand old time talking to a group of strangers about books. Nobody was mean, nobody gave us a hard time for being late, and we ended up going to the next meeting we had such a good experience.
Y'all I almost missed this experience because I was too afraid to show up. I have had countless moments since then where I thought about not showing up to something new, something different, something a little scary, something I didn't feel qualified for--but I did. Let me tell you not one of those times did I regret showing up. I found a new favorite restaurant, made some new friends, got a promotion at work, took my blogging to a new level...and all because I simply showed up.
I once read that showing up to something is 50% of the battle--my friends, I think showing up is 75% of the battle. So let's show up--for each other, for ourselves, to that new club, to the new restaurant, to as much as we can. Kick your excuses to the curb and show up! I promise you won't regret it.
Until Next Time, Kelsie