Picture it: me and the bar.  No, not the typical kind most people would get excited about.  You know, the one where you go in and place an order for something yummy-tasting as you listen to great music or chat with friends.

Nope.  This kind of bar had it in for me.  I knew it the moment my CrossFit coach told me not to bother pulling out the 15-pound one.  Huh-uh.  In his seemingly twisted head I’d graduated up to the 45-pounder, the kind my CrossFit buddy, Red, refers to as “the big-girl bar.”

‘Cept, Coach didn’t stop there.  All through our warm-ups for the WOD (workout of the day), he insisted I add more weight until, finally, he was satisfied that the bar would be heavy enough to really challenge me.

One look at it and I was sure he was nuts.  Seriously nuts.  He wanted me to lift my body weight?  As part of the WOD?  Did he not realize I weighed a whopping 90 lbs.?  Sure, that might not sound like a lot to some people, but have you tried deadlifting your body weight?

Anyway, Travis pushed me to at least give it a try.  I figured that if anything went south, there’d likely be some studly paramedic-dudes to come haul me away, and I was sure I could use the experience in a book somewhere.  (Isn’t there a bright side to everything?)  So, I stepped up to the bar. . .

. . . And proved he wasn’t a liar.  🙂  So, yeah, I also proved to myself that I could do it!

As a romance writer, I thought about the hero and heroine in my WIP as I drove home afterwards.  (I know, huh?  They choose the strangest times to demand attention!)  Did they really challenge each other, pull each other outside of their comfort zones, bring out the best in each other so that by the end of the story the reader believes they deserve the happily-ever-after I give them?  For me, that’s part of the challenge. . . right along with structuring the plot. . . and developing the internal journey. . . and nailing down believable motivations. . . and making sure the conflict is sound. . . and . . .

Sigh.  There’s still a ton for me to learn.  Fortunately, life provides a ton of inspiration!

What’s the last thing you did that pulled you out of your comfort zone?

-Melia (with special thanks to fellow CrossFit buddy, Vicky, for taking the photos.  I owe you!)