Followyes, in my favorite Miami – i faced a comfort zone challenge
you hear all the time about travelers pushing themselves outside their “comfort zones”. i think Lola often comes across as fearless & confident (which is mostly true) but i do know something about comfort zones. for example, last year when i went to Cambodia. it was the first time i’d been to Asia. the first time i went to a third world country. the first time i did a Habitat for Humanity house build. the first time i took flight longer than 10 hours. all these were certainly comfort zone challenges for me. ones that i’m glad i faced because the result was so rewarding. the story i want to share isn’t quite like that but it was a comfort zone challenge nonetheless and one i think a lot of women face.
on my last trip to Miami, i was running a super fun swimwear contest on my website with the amazing luxe swimwear store Orchid Boutique. their flagship store is located in South Beach and since i was going to be in Miami anyway, i thought it would be great to check it out and show off some of their styles to help promote the contest. sounds reasonable, right?! except that meant i had to try on the swimsuits and not in the privacy of my own dressing room. i agreed to ‘model’ them and be photographed…something i’m not exactly comfortable with. after all, i’m no Sport Illustrated swimsuit model and i bet even those women struggle with being on display for photos.
BUT i will say it wasn’t as bad as i thought it was going to be. NO i didn’t go on a crash diet or start exercising every day the month prior to my Miami trip. those things are just too difficult for me these days with the traveling lifestyle i have. AND my travel lifestyle makes me far more happy than when i ate carefully and exercised all the time. i’m not poo pooing being healthy. i do enjoy exercise & being in good shape but i think there is a balance. i was always critical of myself and would have been terribly uncomfortable having my photo taken in a swimsuit even in my top fitness form. SUCH A SHAME.
so why was it not so bad? well, for one, the gals working at Orchid Boutique are there to build you up and help you find a swimsuit that looks great on you. it was like shopping with your best friends. i really appreciated their support and input. in fact, i even tried on and bought one swimsuit i thought i’d NEVER look good in all thanks to their knowledge base of the different lines & my body type. i couldn’t have had a better bikini shopping experience, and ladies, i know you know that is REAAAAALLY saying something. we all pretty much hate swimsuit shopping and are so cruel to ourselves during the process. i left Orchid Boutique 4 bikinis richer and smiling from ear to ear.
other reasons this experience was less painful…my friends supported me during the process of publicly posting these photos for the contest. i appreciate them too for that. BUT the biggest reason it was OK is i decided i had to be OK with it. i committed to modeling the swimwear so i might as well smile, own it, and have fun. and that is what i did. despite being a good 10 pounds heavier than i’d like to be, i just decided to be kind to myself and not worry any more. i gotta say it was very liberating and i hope to adopt this attitude about other things in my life. i don’t know if this comfort zone challenge story is any help to any of you out there but i hope it is. we are all our own worst critics. it would be great if we could all be less hard on ourselves. maybe we’d all smile more and have more fun more often.
