Stepping out of my Comfort Zone

One writes not to be read but to breathe…one writes to think, to pray, to analyze. One writes to clear one’s mind, to dissipate one’s fears, to face one’s doubts, to look at one’s mistakes–in order to retrieve them. One writes to capture and crystallize one’s joy, but also to disperse one’s gloom. Like prayer–you go to it in sorrow more than joy, for help, a road back to ‘grace’. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Anne Morrow Lindbergh is one of my favorite authors. I have read and reread her book A Gift from the Sea at least a dozen times. My friend Nicole read a passage from this book at my wedding. Lindbergh writes about her reflections on life. She wrote A Gift from the Sea on her annual week by herself on Captiva Island in Florida. It’s on her annual week away from life that she recharges. It is her week to breathe.

Tomorrow I am doing something I never thought I would do. I’m following in Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s footsteps. I’m a little anxious and a little more excited. I’m getting on an airplane without my husband and without my children. I’m flying to see my dear friend Nicole in Daytona Beach, Florida for no other reason but a quick visit (and a free plane ticket that was about to expire). I was feeling brave the day I booked my flight a month ago. If my brain ever fantasizes about anything it is getting away. It is a weekend to myself. It is a beach, a mountain, a piece of nature to call my own, a book, a journal, a bottle of wine and a friend to share it with.

I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before. ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

While I’m anxious to leave my baby for 2 nights (and I still can’t believe I’m voluntarily leaving him), I think I need these days for myself. I will come home on Saturday ready for life to rush back in and ready to smooch on all my boys.