Deep thought Tuesday 4: Do something that scares you

Dear world, please meet my friend Lisa.

Isn't she glamorous?  I wonder if she's planning to give me my hat back soon...

I am writing about her tonight because she has had a pretty incredible year that is worth mentioning.  The theme of her year is doing things she's afraid of, and while nude streaking in Times Square didn't make her list, other pretty cool things did.

Early in the year, she decided to shave her head for St. Baldricks, an organization dedicated to helping families with children battling cancer.  Please picture the most lush, curly, would-kill-your-stepsister-for, brown hair.  She had it.  A lot of it.  Yet somehow she became even more beautiful after it was gone.

Years ago, she used to sing, just like me.  And just like me, she put it away as a profession to join the real world who enjoy paying rent and such.  Adulthood calls.  This year she also got back on stage, with me, and sang her face off.  I'd say she sang her hair off, but it was already gone.

And finally, she got her ass on a bike and raised money for people battling homelessness and HIV status.  I had the pleasure of accompanying her from Boston to NYC on a bicycle.  

Oh yeah, she also has lost 35 lbs and counting on her fight to get healthy.

Reading this, I feel like a lazy punk.  At least I'm also going bald, it's just happening slower and doesn't really help kids, but I think my suffering makes the world a better place.

So why am I telling you about Lisa and her year of accomplishments?  Mostly to make you jealous of my awesome friends, but also to encourage all of us to carry this momentum forward into our own lives.  Because when I asked her what motivated her to have a year like this, she said it was because she felt her life was previously in a rut and she wanted to do things that scared her.

I still think Times Square streaking would have made a better story, but she did pretty well without it.

I wanted to tell her story because it reminds me of the passion I occasionally find in my life that pushes me forward.  It reminds me of how I can be a better man by pushing my own boundaries.  It reminds me that being scared of things is really just an opportunity waiting to happen.

Here are her words on reflecting on these experiences, "The greatest part is everything I have gotten out of this year.  I made amazing friends, I rode a bike after not being on one since I was a kid.  I raised ~ $6000 for 2 amazing organizations, I shared a stage with an incredibly multi talented friend, I've let myself believe in myself again and I kinda dig it."

Isn't that last line poignant?  "I've let myself believe in myself again and I kinda dig it."  Friends, if that isn't poetry then Walt Whitman was a boob.

I'm left reflecting how often I don't believe in myself.  I wonder how many of my readers do the same absurd trick to themselves now and then.  I ponder how different our world would be if we could all channel this drive to change; to grow; to live.

Saying I am proud of Lisa and her accomplishments sounds childish and stupid.  I am overwhelmed by what she has done.  It's a funny thing when a teacher is taught by the student; it's an opportunity for them both to grow together.

Here's hoping that a blog entry I'll write in the near future tells you about fears I have faced and hurdles I have overcome.  Perhaps we can find them together?