Monday, January 23, 2012

Sitting on a Hotel Balcony. . . All By Myself

I'm out of town for work and at my hotel.  After spending seven hours in a meeting, I'm relaxing on my balcony with a $15 mini-bottle of wine and some Goldfish crackers.  Until I took my current job, I had no idea that meetings lasted an entire day.  I didn't care how much the wine cost, I would have bought it if it were twice what I paid.  Now that my husband doesn't travel for work, I'm not usually alone and I don't have much time to myself.  I'm not complaining.  I'm just saying.  Sitting here, on a Marriott balcony overlooking a beautiful courtyard, I realized that I haven't done much without someone by my side.  Here are some things that I'd like to try all by myself:

  1. See a movie.
  2. Eat dinner.  I've ate lunch by myself but lunch is different.  It is more casual than dinner and it just seems easier to grab something to eat on your lunch break than go to a restaurant for dinner.
  3. Have a drink at a bar.   
  4. Take a vacation. Going out of town for work is different - you have an agenda.  I'd like to just drive somewhere with no plans, rent a hotel room and spend a weekend exploring a new place alone. 
  5.  Fly.  I haven't flown in years and never by myself.  I think that I'd do fine with this but the opportunity has never presented itself.
  6. Attend church.  I imagine that I wouldn't have any distractions if I went to church by myself.   
  7. Ride a roller coaster.  I love riding the Hulk at Islands of Adventure.  I'd like to try this one alone because I always get so nervous before I get onto the ride. 
  8. Go to a concert.  I think about concerts that I'd love to go to that my husband wouldn't particularly enjoy.  Of course, he'd go to any concert for me but I could go myself and save him the agony of seeing Tori Amos.
  9. Swim in the ocean.  I go to the beach by myself all of the time but I've never went swimming without someone else with me.
  10. Go camping.  I'd like to actually go through the entire process by myself one day - hooking up our camper, driving it to a park, parking it into a space, getting set up and building a campfire.  Then, I'd like my husband to surprise me.  Who am I kidding?  I love going camping with him.
Now, it isn't that I want to be alone or I don't like doing things with other people.  Everything on my list I do with my husband and I absolutely love the time we spend together.  I just feel that doing these things would help me grow as an independent woman and increase my confidence.  I might get anxious or even fearful but I want to face my anxieties and fears - not hide from them.  Okay.  This year, I am going to do one of the things on my list.  This is a simple, attainable goal.  I'm not sure which one it will be but I'll be reflecting on the experience the entire time.  Don't you love doing things you are afraid of?   

3 comments:

  1. I "have" to do most things by myself these days and I don't like it, OR--do I? If I'm truthful and with protests aside, I actually DO like doing most things alone. Just like your balcony experience, aloneness allows our mind to speak to us and we can actually hear.

    Don't go swimming alone in the ocean. :)

    Great Post
    Teresa

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  2. Sometimes doing something by yourself can be fun too. I also want to try eating out by myself. To thus day I have been to much of a chicken to try it. Thank you so much for following my blog.

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