Once again it’s time for the weekly Sunday Brunch with ZA Maxfield! This week, we have two awesome friends joining us! Please welcome Karenna Colcroft and Lloyd Meeker!
This week’s question is: “What’s the last thing you did that scared you? Describe why you did it.”
***BIG NEWS*** From now on, instead of the ebooks we’ve been awarding as prizes, I’ll be giving out a $5.00 Amazon gift card so readers can use it for the ebook (or other Amazon purchase) of their choice. All you have to do is comment below for your chance to win!
First, let’s hear from Karenna!
The last thing I did that scared me was flying between Boston and Detroit. I am not a huge fan of flying, and managed to avoid it for nearly a quarter century, until two years ago I had no choice because I’d signed up for the GayRomLit convention. Since that was in Albuquerque, flying was the only viable option to get there. Driving from Boston to New Mexico was just not going to happen.
But after that, I pretty much swore off flying. Until I had the opportunity to visit someone who’s very special to me. He and I met when he was in the Boston area last year on business, and he became friends with my husband and me. But at the end of July 2013, he was sent back to his home state of Michigan, and had been there ever since.
I needed a break from stress, and I really wanted to see my friend. Detroit isn’t as far a drive as Albuquerque, but it still wasn’t completely feasible, between wear and tear on my car and wear and tear on my fibromyalgia-prone body. So I boarded a plane, closed my eyes on takeoffs and landings, and was thankful to be able to spend a few days relaxing, not dealing with issues in my personal life, and hanging out with my friend.
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Now, let’s see what Lloyd has to say!
![Companion[The]1B (1)](https://www.zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/CompanionThe1B-1.jpg)
Umm, this is pretty embarrassing. I’ve held a pilot’s license, bungee jumped and done any number of dangerous things without much hesitation.
But… then there’s social media. Soon some researcher will create a medical term for the unique combination of paranoia, embarrassment, dread, loathing and lunatic hope experienced by people like me when they engage in social media.
About two months ago I realized I had to get active on Twitter. I was scared. Still am. But I did it.
Then an interwebs diva told me I should set my blog to automatically post to Twitter, and that my posts should have buttons that allow readers to retweet, “like” for facebook, pin to Pinterest, and post to Reddit or SumbleUpon.
When I eventually regained consciousness I researched the relevant plugins, imagining every possible catastrophe — including installing one with malicious code originating in a geek-filled basement in Bucharest that would explode my website and snatch all my passwords and ravage every aspect of my online life.
“We will help you find lovely friends — just give us the password to your email account!” was the least of my nightmares. “By using this plug-in you agree that we are allowed to share whatever information we can collect from your online activity with anyone we think might be willing to pay for it” was more at the heart of my dread.
I chose two plugins. Yes, one from central Europe. I downloaded them, but couldn’t bring myself to activate either one for several days. I just sweated, fidgeted and stared at them lying inert on my plugin page. Each one was a slightly different Pandora’s box waiting to be opened.
Yes, I have Socmedianoia, or whatever the hell they’re going to call this disease. And then I did it. And it worked. And the sky didn’t fall. But it still might…
Why did I do this? Because I’m driven, against my all my natural instincts. I love writing what I write, and I love working hard to grow as a writer. But one important creative circuit in me isn’t complete until somebody reads what I’ve created. My longing to share my stories with readers outweighs my chronic Scomedianoia. So here I am, warts and all.
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Thank you to Karenna and Lloyd for joining us this week!
Thanks for letting me share brunch with you!
The last thing I did that scared me was climb on chairs and counters to help my grandmother clean the stuff on top of the cupboards. I am not a fan of heights. I did it though because she is my almost 80 year old grandmother and she does a lot for me, so I could suck it up for a while and help her out.
Hah, yes, social media is the scariest thing to me lately too! Not a naturally social person & had some bullying issues in my past, so frickin’ literally every thing I do or say on line, I freak the heck out over. I relax & forget to be scared & “am myself” for a while, then get paranoid that I’m being annoying, weird, boring, pathetic, unfunny, have over shared, pick one, or all of the above:P So, answer to the question is pretty much, the last thing I tweeted or posted on someone’s blog. Which, uh, oh yeah, that would be this then, wouldn’t it 😉
When I was asked to do a special presentation at my office a few years ago, I had never done any presentation before my office etc.
I know this sounds stupid, but a few days after my total right hip replacement this summer, I accidently raised my leg too high when I got back into bed (middle of night) and I felt my new hip pop. I yelled for my hubs, who was in his office, and starting crying because of all the warnings I’d been given about never bending my leg up to a right angle in the first six weeks after surgery. I laid there, and laid there, trying to decide what to do.They said if the new femur head popped out of the new socket, it would be excruciating and they’d haul me back to surgery. As I lay there, flat on my back, I realized my hip didn’t hurt. I felt like I’d gotten away with some sort of major crime. Very upsetting, very scary.
Oh, P.S., I’m 8 weeks post surgery now, the precautions have all been lifted, and I am ahead of the curve according to my physical therapist. 🙂
The last scary thing that I did was have my first surgery. I had to have my thyroid out to see if I had cancer or not. Having never really been in the hospital for anything in my life, the whole process was unknown and scary. Thankfully, the surgery went well and I recovered pretty quickly.
The last terrifying thing I did was walk down a long flight of stairs along a high cliff wall to see some ancient cliff dwellings. I have a bad height anxiety. I did this because my kids were with me and I wanted them to know that you can overcome fear (and the overwhelming feeling of needing to vomit or faint). The cliff dwellings were pretty spectacular, but that was one tough walk.
Thanks for the great post!
The last thing I did that scared me and why did I do it…most recently on vacation I took windsurfing lessons. I don’t like deep water where I cant reach the bottom but I really wanted to try windsurfing, so I psyched myself up and managed to get out on the water. I ended up having alot of fun even if I really couldn’t manage to stay on the board.
I think the last major thing that I did that really scared me, was to go outside my comfort and confidence zone to train to become a teacher. I am quite a shy person and this helped me build confidence in myself and develop as well use my natural mentoring skills.