They say that "life happens outside your comfort zone," but for moms, venturing out of our comfort zones can feel extra risky. The moment we became moms, we became intrinsically tied to other lives. And while it can feel as if you have to give everything to your little one, the truth is you also can't pour from an empty cup. You're still you and need to do things just for you.
That's why we decided to start our new series Do What Scares You, so we could challenge moms to do something, anything, that gets them to focus on themselves and the dreams they had before becoming a mother.
The first to rise to the challenge? Meet Carey Reilly, a mother of two, comedian and host who decided to challenge herself to learn how to ice skate.
"What scared me most about trying figure skating … it wasn’t the actual skating component — well, that makes me nervous — but it was the falling," she admitted to CafeMom. "I just don’t want to fall. I could just envision something breaking, I’m out for a week. Who’s gonna pick up my kids from lacrosse and take them to wherever they've gotta go? Because if mom goes down, the whole show goes out. I was also afraid that I wouldn’t be coordinated enough to actually skate. The brain hasn’t talked to these bits and parts in a while, and I wasn’t sure there would be any connection there to actually follow through and be able to be athletic. When am I athletic? The last time I was athletic, I gave birth."
But Reilly has a good reason for overcoming her fear.
Aside from just missing the way skating made her feel, Reilly really wanted to teach her kids a lesson.
"They’ve seen me take them ice skating and sit on the sidelines while they ice skate. They’re like, 'Come on, Mom,' and I’m like, 'I don’t think so,'" she shared. "So now they’re able to see, 'Oh mom was scared to do that, she got the proper coaching, she learned how to do it, and now she feels confident doing it.' And they can then use that in their life. I don’t want them to stop trying new things. There comes a point, I guess, in everybody’s life where you just stop trying new things. You get comfortable. You just do things that you’re used to doing and that you know you can do."
When the time came to lace up and hit the ice, she admitted that at first, it felt as if she'd made a terrible mistake.
"My first impression heading onto the ice was a real nervous energy. Holding onto the side of the rink and just feeling my skates moving back and forth, I was thinking, 'There is just no way this is gonna get better. How am I ever gonna feel comfortable with standing on this ice, on a tiny little blade?'"
But soon, fear gave way to fun.
"By the end of it, I actually couldn’t believe I was twirling. I was actually doing moves I’d seen done before — of course, not very well, but I was attempting it, and doing it — and navigating around the ice like I had been ice skating for a long time."
Overall, she 10/10 recommends that moms try to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, too.
"It’s important for moms to take risks for themselves because we’re the ones teaching our children how to be, and how to live life — and that’s a whole part of living life, is taking risks," she added. "One thing I’ve learned the most is when you’re uncomfortable, you’re actually growing — and you’re moving towards a goal that maybe you didn’t think you could ever accomplish."
Check out Carey's ice-skating journey here.
