{"id":379537,"date":"2013-08-04T20:36:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-04T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/04\/leaping-fearlessly\/"},"modified":"2013-08-04T20:36:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-04T20:36:00","slug":"leaping-fearlessly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/04\/leaping-fearlessly\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaping Fearlessly"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.\u201d ~Eleanor Roosevelt<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Journeyers, I\u2019ve had a few great weeks, and this last one has been downright exhilarating!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve been working hard on The Five Facets<\/i>projects this past year, making a commitment to writing three times a week, and doing it.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Doing it for me. Because it makes me feel good. Because I enjoy it. Because I feel like I\u2019m making a difference somewhere and somehow.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve been working hard on healing myself and my marriage.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And so many things are finally coming together!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Recently I\u2019ve been tossing fear into the wind and preparing for what I believe is to come.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Actually, <\/span>Courage and I<\/span><\/span><\/a> have been plunging into the unknown, despite Fear.<\/o:p><\/span>

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When I\u2019ve thought about photos for my social media sites and business cards and that eventual book jacket, I\u2019ve kind of cringed.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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You know how it is, that stuff we tell ourselves: You need to lose the weight first \u2018cause your face is too fat. You\u2019re too skinny, pale, not photogenic, blah, blah, blah<\/i>\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Know what I did?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I called a friend\u2019s daughter who is going to cosmetology school, and asked her if she\u2019d like to practice hair and makeup on me.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I did this for two reasons: One, my makeup regimen is only lips and eyes, and secondly, I wanted to feel good and pampered and who better to help me do that than an expert in her field.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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There\u2019s this independent photographer who took my kids\u2019 senior pictures. He\u2019s creative and caring and seemed to be a non-judging kind of guy.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I phoned his office and blabbered on nervously about what kind of photo I wanted and about the thoughts that were running through my head.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Yep. All that. For a head shot.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And when I showed up and Jim, the photographer, asked me what I wanted and I told him and told him how nervous I was, he was easy going and reassuring and said, let\u2019s take it slow and try a few different things.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Because that\u2019s the way people are, right, at least the people I want to associate with.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Journeyers who hold our fears and our joys and our hopes and our dreams in the palms of their hands, they envelop us with understanding and compassion and, well, love.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And I\u2019m working hard to realize that what unfriendly or judgmental people think really isn\u2019t any of my business and really shouldn\u2019t matter.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Jim gave me a great portfolio of pictures, a few that made me look as awkward as I felt, but many that made me look downright glamorous.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And here\u2019s what\u2019s transpired in the past three weeks, Journeyers!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
I updated my image on all those sites that connect us.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I made business cards and actually handed out a few of them.<\/span>

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<\/span>I submitted a query.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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It looks like a rejection, as the agent\u2019s disclosure states that if I didn\u2019t hear back within a week my work probably wasn\u2019t a fit for her.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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But I\u2019m not letting that stop me, Journeyers.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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That was but one of last week\u2019s writing goals, all of which I accomplished.<\/o:p><\/span>

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And here\u2019s the best, CRAZIEST, HAPPIEST <\/b>news of the past eight days, Journeyers.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I uploaded my first piece under my BlogHer<\/i>profile.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I hadn\u2019t connected with anyone, wasn\u2019t yet following other BlogHers and no one was following me, but I figured I\u2019d do that work and research later.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Chances were slim the essay would be seen, but it was a start.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And as I always say, \u201cSlow and steady wins the race.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span>

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The next morning, I received this e-mail from their amazing family editor, Jenna Hatfield, who is now one of my magical friends.<\/span><\/div>\n

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I did a double take on the Subject Line, \u201cWe\u2019re Featuring Your Member Post on BlogHer,\u201d before clicking on that correspondence.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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My first thought was that it was some kind of spam, but then I read, then re-read, the message, \u201cI\u2019ll be adding your post\u2026\u201d <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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You’ll never believe what I did with that \u201cOh, my God!\u201d chorus that reverberated in my head…<\/span><\/div>\n

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Look at the middle tweet…<\/span><\/div>\n

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And then to see <\/span>one of my favorite essays published on the front page of that crazy big site?<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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I rode that high All. Day. Long.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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The next afternoon, I submitted a pitch, one I\u2019ve been contemplating for months, to The Good Men Project<\/i>.<\/span>

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Seven hours later, a new magical friend by the name of Lisa Hickey notified me that <\/span>they wanted to run Our Roots<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Three days of adrenaline on steroids.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Yesterday, when my friend asked me to tag along for an afternoon outlet shopping excursion, I actually said yes<\/i>, because my body couldn\u2019t withstand another day of that high.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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It sure is a nice problem to have, though, so many magical people showing up to read and comment and share my words\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I am high and humbled and ever so grateful\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And Journeyers, these things are some of the Biggies, times we think and dream and some of us even pray about.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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They\u2019re the kind of events that often make us think, I am There<\/i>. Happy.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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But here\u2019s what I know for sure, it\u2019s the Happy Happens motto, it\u2019s what keeps the shitty times from taking over my life: Happy isn\u2019t a destination. It\u2019s a collection of all those fleeting instances that make us smile and bring us joy.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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They are the simple moments, like this<\/span><\/a> and this<\/span><\/a>and this<\/span><\/a>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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And every once in a while we fall into those King-sized events that bring about a period of downright euphoria.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Euphoria eventually fades, Journeyers, but Simple is ever present, she\u2019s steadfast and she’s There<\/i>, walking with us every moment of every day…<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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What about you? What Moment(s) made you smile or soar this week?<\/o:p><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
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Hugs and healing, Journeyers\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Soon\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

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Please do share…<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.\u201d ~Eleanor Roosevelt Journeyers, I\u2019ve had a few great weeks, and this last one has been downright exhilarating! I\u2019ve been working hard on The Five Facetsprojects this past year, making a commitment to writing three times a week, and doing it. Doing it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,1012,915,1013,317,161,162,1014,536,1015,320,69,1016],"class_list":["post-379537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-happyhappens","tag-blogher","tag-courage","tag-eleanor-roosevelt","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-happiness","tag-happiness-happens","tag-leap-fearlessly","tag-mental-health","tag-publishing","tag-random-happiness","tag-the-five-facets","tag-the-good-men-project"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/pin_it_button.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}