What do you do when you have ten seconds to say something to a person, a complete stranger, who has ultimately influenced your life for the better? I’m so blessed I’ve had to contemplate this question twice this year.
The first time I got it all wrong, I’m lucky my name even escaped my lips...but what do you really do when you’re standing across a table from one of the biggest stars in the world? If you’re me, you mumble your name, smile awkwardly, shake hands and move on.
Last night I had the chance to meet someone else who has been incredibly meaningful and influential to me for the past few years. Actually, rewind to two nights ago...yeah...the night where I decided the one thing I did that day to scare myself was to actually leave the house in the middle of a polar vortex to go see Radnor + Lee play at City Winery. (I challenge myself to do one thing daily that’s hard or scary and one thing that’s a good choice for my body. I think it’s a good way to live.)
So there it was, last night, me, faced with trying to come up with one short sentence to say to a stranger whose words have profoundly impacted my life. Would I chicken out and spend the next week ruminating over my disappointment in myself? Would I say something embarrassing? Would I trip and fall on my face? Puke on my shoes? Then I remembered a quote from one of Josh Radnor’s Museletters that has really stuck with me, “I had a teacher once put it this way, and it’s always stayed with me: The only safe place to be is the unknown. The universe seems astonishingly designed to support our bravery and reward our risk-taking. The unknown is the only place where we find out what we're truly made of.”
The unknown. Sure, it’s grandiose to compare this quote to something as simple as talking to someone you admire-it felt like a risk to me-but, like I said, what’s the worst that could happen, I trip over my snow boots, fall on my face and we all have a good laugh about it. Instead I got to shake his hand, tell him what his words have meant to me, completely forget to introduce myself but hey, I was nervous. It was only ten seconds but it truly meant the world to me.
I’ve been reading Josh Radnor’s Musletters for awhile and I can’t recommend them enough. It’s as if someone reached inside my brain and put the thoughts in my mind onto paper more eloquently than I ever could. The timing is always perfect, the thoughts, similar-or something I needed to hear. The notes are great conversation starters between myself and friends that also read.
I’m not entirely sure when or how I found them, I’ve been an admirer of Josh’s work since “happythankyoumoreplease,” but the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. These notes were a catalyst for me to start making some of the major life-changes that needed to happen. I started to spend more time in contemplation and less time being mindlessly entertained. I started reading more, being gentle with myself, finding patience, taking time to meditate and breathe. I started leaving behind those things that were no longer serving me and started to put myself first...leaning toward finding that which creates positivity in my life.
That’s also when I started listening to Radnor + Lee-if you want to listen to music that will leave you with a permanent smile, go check them out. Seeing them perform live the last two nights was truly remarkable, I said to my friend during night one, pinch me, is this really happening? Total happy place show.
Here I am, now, a year later from when those changes started. I’m getting reacquainted with myself. I’m spending time with people who enhance life, who ask good questions and think about things that really matter. I made a choice, sitting alone at Leo Carrillo beach last March, that I couldn’t keep living my life the way I was. I was angry all the time. I was depressed about where I was at in my life. I was in an unhealthy relationship. Drastic changes needed to come, and they did, they painfully did-and here, on the other side, in the unknown I am happy.
If you like thinking a little deeper, like positive stories and thoughts, like getting great recommendations for what to read or listen to, sign up for Josh Radnor’s Museletters here
