Happy Saturday, friends!

Wanna hear a story about this gorgeous starfish? Great, cozy on up with a hot cup of coffee and listen up.
This story begins years earlier when a little 2 year old version of myself snuck into the room where my older sibs were watching JAWS. Let’s face it, JAWS wasn’t made for 2 year old eyes. Needless to say, I have been terrified of the ocean waters ever since.
So, now we can fast forward to present time. We recently took a trip to Cozumel. We had the opportunity to take out a sailboat, a kayak, and go snorkeling just off the coast at a reef. As you can imagine, I wanted to do those things so bad, but… I. WAS. TERRIFIED. I mean the music was already playing in my head while I had my toes buried firmly in the hot sand of the sandy beach.
With a little reluctance, I was finally persuaded to sailboat. When I say sailboat, I mean two floats with a tarp stretched between them and a sail at the top of a tall pole. Shouldn’t there at least be some kind of hard barrier between my toes and a hungry shark?!? Somehow I made it and actually ended up enjoying the ride…mostly. Then, we kayaked. This at least gave the hard barrier I was needing, but now I had to worry about tipping and being in open water. By now I’m not sure what had gotten into me, but people kept talking about these gorgeous starfish they’d seen while snorkeling. I so badly wanted to see them, but I had ZERO desire to be completely vulnerable in 15-20 feet deep ocean water. After a difficult internal battle, I finally gave myself a mental face slap, shoved my fears to the back of my head, awkwardly got into my flippers, secured my gear and jumped in!
Right here is where you insert a HUGE moment of panic as those same two music notes repeated themselves louder than ever before. My heart sunk, my stomach churned with choppy waves of sickness much like sea waves and my eyes darted scanning every possible inch of this underwater world. Within minutes I was actually enjoying this foreign world. The scenery was full of brightly colored fish- puffer fish, skates, lobsters, clownfish, Bermuda chubs…and starfish!! I had no idea of how deep the waters were until we came to the starfish, but at that moment, I forgot all about the music, the panic, the fear, and focused on what was in front of me. They were gorgeous!
I say all of this to say DON’T LET YOUR FEARS OWN YOU! Don’t miss out on opportunities, relationships, goals, love etc. just because you’re afraid or because others said you couldn’t. Take a deep breath, give yourself a mental face slap, get that fear and negativity out of your head and pursue those dreams with all that you are. If I’d let fear keep its grip on me, I never would have had this experience. I never would have seen starfish hanging out on the ocean floor. I’d never have this story to tell. BUT, because I pushed forward and found strength and bravery I didn’t know I had, this is mine now! Pride isn’t always a good thing, but I am proud of myself for facing this fear!
I could have stayed on the shore dreaming from the safe distance of my comfort zone, but nothing great EVER comes from comfort zones. I’m not sure what fears you have or what’s keeping you captive, but I urge you to break free for yourself and do more than just dream. The world is full of life-changing opportunities that you will never know unless you act. Don’t just live through the adventures and experiences of others, create your own. For me, a starfish will forever be my symbol of bravery and courage. If you have one, I’d love to hear yours.

By the way, no shark was ever seen!!!! 😁

Have an amazing weekend!

Erica