Let me explain how this video happened. That’s right—it’s me taking a ballet lesson from our fabulous member Kennedy. For folks who know me, the sight of me doing ballet is as equally surprising as a third ear growing out of my forehead.
I lead a class called Be More Awesomer. It deals with the core of what we want to encourage in our teens at PLC—not necessarily this piece of academic content or that, but the skills and attitudes that go along with self-direction: being intentional about how you spend your time and energy, imagining the kind of life you want and then creating it, setting goals, self-knowledge, overcoming obstacles, and lots more.
One of the big concepts we talk about is based on the video Do you dare to dream?.
- Comfort Zones – what you are used to in your daily life, good or bad
- Learning Zones – where you stretch yourself a bit and learn new skills and experience new things
- Panic Zones – experiences and challenges so far outside your Comfort Zone that most people never venture out there because they think terrible things will happen
The point of the video and one of the things we do in the class is to intentionally put ourselves into our Panic Zones because the Panic Zone is actually the Magic Zone—a place where all of the incredible things in life happen.
The Panic/Magic zone is where a PLC member agrees to accompany the choir on organ when she has only ever played piano before; where someone signs up for their first Spartan race; where I left my job to help start PLC.
The thing that keeps most people in their Comfort Zones and out of the Magic Zone is fear—of failing, of looking ridiculous, of the unknown, of what other people will think. So we encourage each other to intentionally put ourselves into the Panic Zone so that next time, it’s a little easier. I try to lead by example and so there I was at 2pm on February 11th, way out in my Panic/Magic Zone, doing ballet and recording it for the world to see. It was awesome—I’m so glad I did it.
Supporting our young people to overcome their fear and get to the Magic Zone is not easy, but it is totally worth it.