By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
It was a wonderful vacation. We have family that live and work in Africa
and had encouraged us to experience Kenya.
It was great to have guides who were so familiar with the area (and who
spoke several languages). We saw the
bustling Nairobi, the lovely Rift Valley, went on safari, and experienced the
Kenyan coast. It was an amazing trip. (And I'm clearly trying to still catch up, since this post is a day late!)
And y’all know that I rarely even leave
my house unless I’m running errands or shuttling children around—so this trip
was a big deal to me.
As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a
planner. I’m very cautious and need an
abundance of information on something before I experience it—that’s even true
of small events I attend near my home or camps for my children. I packed weeks before we left…and repacked.
And shifted things from bag to bag. Yes,
I’m fairly neurotic.
When I talked with friends and family
about leaving, I’d bring up all the aspects of the trip that made me
anxious—the vaccinations we needed, organizing the flights, staying healthy,
our accommodations, etc.
People who knew me best had a particular
reaction to the news. “Oh, Elizabeth,”
said more than one person, “that will be so good for you.”
They were right and I knew it when they
said it. We can be too fond of the
familiar, too eager to keep away from crowds, too happy to stay at home. As writers, it’s also good to grow a
little. To stray from our comfort
zone. To fire up our imaginations with
different experiences, different sights, different tastes, different people.
I don’t think we have to go to Africa to
do it, either. We can push ourselves
into new and different situations nearer to home, too.
Have you broken out of your routine or
your comfort zone lately? What was it
like? How did it go?
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