Recently, I pushed through my total secret intimidation about something I always wanted to do with ease and excellence. No, it wasn’t about being a compelling inspirational speaker …or an author garnering accolades for copy and creativity.
It was...about…. creating pastries or pies. I know. This sounds ridiculous. For 50+ years, cooking has been one of my “things”. I’ve collected cookbooks and reams of recipes. Some of my fondest memories as a little girl were standing at the kitchen counter with my grandmother making biscuits. Hers were euphoria. Life was made right the moment they hit your tongue. When I made them, even slathered in butter and honey, they were like gnawing your way through a very old boot. All these years.
I shared this secret with my dear friend and chef-extraordinaire, Kristin Jorgensen, who created the coolest cooking school, The Barn NC, in a great big black barn set high on a hill in Cullowhee, NC. At our latest class, she challenged me to “get over yourself” and “get your galette on”.
A galette is a fancy French name for a free-form pie without the plate. Dough/crust on the bottom, surrounding a yummy sweet (OR savory) filling. She was right. It was actually easy. Ultimately delicious! I powered through her guidance with shaking hands. Her encouragement and instruction even netted a delicious breakthrough. I had made it to the other side of “CAN’T”…..and this time
with ice cream.
This may seem like a dumb, silly story. We can be so easily seduced into thinking this galette lesson doesn’t amount to anything. I mean. Really.
But in truth, these “ridiculous little fears” are the appetizers in that big buffet of our lives. This story is not about kneading flour, as it may appear. It is about needing to conquer yet another insidious fear swirling around at the deepest level. All those “little things” we "don’t like" to do…because they make us uncomfortable….how many of them are actually attached to some kind of tip of the iceberg fear? Fear of looking stupid. Fear of not being able to do what everyone else seems to do without a care in the world? Fear of being found out that we are dumb or clueless or slightly incompetent in comparison to someone else. Fear of not keeping track of all the cards that were played, or the instructions that need remembering.
If we are living with a massive multitude of these “silly little fears", where does that leave us when there is something BIG on the horizon? Something that we REALLY, REALLY want to accomplish? The dream that’s been simmering on the back burner since 1972. All those “little fears”, stopping us from doing the things we think are too silly to care about, have their cumulative effect. Ultimately they lead us to live in a kind of
pervasive lock-down.
One day you wake up realizing that those "silly little things" have become a way of life.
Think about the people you know who find ways to become critical and belittling of almost everything…..they are just afraid of trying anything new. If that’s you, love yourself through the realization. I actually tried to tell myself that I didn’t like pie. Come on. WHO was I kidding?
Want to re-energize life a bit? Want to find some new footing on The Positive Path™? Maybe the way to the bigger stuff, still tugging at your heart is to find something small, something even you might think seems silly…small but cringe-worthy…. at how foolish or awkward you might look in trying to do it. Then, do it. Anyway. Turn that secret inside out.
See how free it makes you feel. Then, do another “silly little thing”. One more step.
Those steps will begin to break the habit of being afraid. Of being ashamed and silly. Those little nudges will get us out of wading through life in the shallow water. We will be preparing ourselves for an eventual dive into the deep end of our dreams, where our heart of hearts has always longed for us to be.
So, here’s a question or two….well, OK, make that three…..for you:
1. What’s the story you’re telling yourself about something you really want to do…but think you can’t? 2. Who would you trust to ask for help? What would it take to ask them? 3. Can you envision how great it would feel to be on the other side (the bright side of a dark story you’re living with) of whatever is holding you back?
To accomplish anything, to live up to our own dreams…we have to be a beginner. We have to start. We WILL feel like our shoes are on the wrong feet for a while. It’s part of the process. We have to get over ourselves. So….Here’s your loving shove. Be Positive and…on Purpose. You can do this. GALETTE GIRL. At your service.❤️
