Getting Outside of the Box

How many times in your career has someone asked you to step away from your desk and… "Think Outside of the Box!" I've always hated that phrase. Who says I'm in a box, anyway? I like to call my life a cruise ship -- although it's not always as much fun. There's a full agenda on my ship most days: meetings, appointments, errands, social gatherings, work deadlines, after-school activities, homework, housework, volunteer work, and yes -- even exercise. It seems to never end. Yet at the same time, sometimes I think my thought patterns are in a rut. It's easy to find yourself feeling as if you’ll be doing the same damn thing for the rest of your life.

That "same damn thing" might be raising your kids, helping elderly parents, or maintaining a career track that you've been on forever and which would be way too difficult (expensive, time-consuming, stressful) to change now. Take heart: life does change, and usually when we least expect it.

But you have to rock the boat a little bit, once in a while. This fall, I started coaching an after-school girls running program called Girls on the Run. The program (a national non-profit) targets third to fifth-grade girls, who might find themselves stuck in the "girl box."

The girl box is a nebulous concept but it contains anything yucky: kids are saying mean things to me on the playground; I don't have the cutest, latest clothes; my teacher gave me a dirty look; my best friend is playing with someone else this week; I am the worst kid at soccer during P.E., and a million other reasons why, sometimes, it's hard to be a girl.

Talking to these young girls about their "girl box” issues makes me think about my own box: I’ll never have time to write a book, I will never be a good cook, I am too hard on my daughters, I am not positive enough, I am a nagging wife… the list goes on.

I'm beginning to think that this community service coaching gig is going to help me more than the girls. They’re funny, they smile a lot, and with a little encouragement, they'll try just about anything.

If that's getting outside of the box, I think I can handle it.