A New Year of Glamour!
Cheakamus Canyon by Drew Brayshaw
“Glamour Goal” #1: Live Daringly!
Welcome to a new year! I love new beginnings and the opportunities they bring and I am really excited about this year ahead, full of the excitement and new challenges of kicking off the “A Year of Living Glamorously” project.
The basic premise is that each month there will be a challenge to try something new, to learn something, to have a new experience. The idea is that if we just have even one new experience a month that adds up to a whole year’s worth of glamorous new experiences. It’s all about living, learning, laughing, growing and sharing. Life is much more glamorous, more exciting and meaningful, when we are stretching our imaginations, reaching beyond our limits, tapping into our creativity, and allowing ourselves to really grow into the people we want and imagine ourselves to be. There is so much to experience, so much to learn and embrace. I invite you to join me in this endeavor.
The first monthly challenge, our first “Glamour Goal” as we’ll call it, is to dare our selves to face one of our major fears. I think this just sets us on the right path for the upcoming months ahead, and it feels very liberating to be able to overcome an obstacle to our success. Fear, more than anything else, will keep you from achieving your goals. You simply can’t be living the glamorous life if you are afraid to meet new challenges and try new experiences. So this is the perfect way to start this project. Overcoming a fear will always be one of the most beneficial goals for achieving success. Just start off with one of your fears, you don’t have to jump in to something too big and face them all at once, small successes lead to bigger ones. So, choose a fear to confront, challenge yourself to do it, and enjoy the feeling of knowing that you will be reaching out to new experiences over the next 11 months.
Maybe you have a fear of the dark, or of water, of elevators or confined spaces. Or maybe you are afraid to go out alone. Whatever your fears choose one that you want most to confront and find a way to face it sometime during this month.
My challenge will be to face my fear of heights. Over the years my fear of heights had started to take hold of me to the point that I was finding it difficult to actually drive over the overpasses and bridges. I know it sounds crazy, and illogical. Our fears, however large or small, can start to take root and cripple our abilities to enjoy life. (Don’t ask my family about the time we went to the top of the World Trade Centers. Just know that I thought I could come back down without having to go outside! They claim that I am on every Japanese tourist’s home video.) Anyway, I am going to dare myself to go to the top of the tallest structure in my town, and force myself to walk across the walkway, and look out the observation deck. I have made myself do this before. My hands sweat, my heart pounds, and it is hard to get my back off the wall, but I force myself to do it. And it’s so worth it- what a beautiful view! And isn’t that where all the best things in life are waiting? Just beyond our fears? It is so empowering to know that you can conquer an obstacle in your way, and after that, all the glamorous new experiences waiting for you in the year ahead, whether it is singing in front of a crowd, or speaking up at a city council meeting, or deciding to let someone know how much they really mean to you, is a piece of cake!
What will your challenge be? What fear do you most want to overcome?
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Lee Ann Brown is the author and creator of the Glamour Survival Guides lifestyle philosophy brand, whose mission is “Redefining Glamour: Your guides to living the glamorous life anywhere, at any age, on any budget”. It was only after several years of working as a model in Atlanta, New York, Miami and Japan, and coming back home to settle down and raise a family, that she realized what living glamorously was really all about, and enjoys sharing her lessons learned through her work and website 
