Dining alone!

People will stare. Make it worth their while. ~Harry Winston

Last night, as I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed, I stumbled upon an article on how more and more people were dining alone these days (Isn't it a great way to show our lovely selves some love?). And that was when it occurred to me that I had never dined alone! Since I'm going through that phase of my life in which you decide that you're going to push yourself out of your comfort zone; I decided to go dining alone today.

So, this morning, I woke up feeling a little anxious. Thankfully, I had college to go to which turned out to be a great distraction. Returning home, I decided to take a nap to kill time.

I woke up feeling better but still not very good (who said getting out of a comfort zone was going to be easy!) . In the evening, I got dressed, let my hair down (literally and figuratively!) and even put on some lipstick (for it can be empowering) which is such a rare thing for me to do.

Fast forward, I've reached the restaurant, gotten myself a table and I just placed my order.
As I sit here in the restaurant, I feel a little unsettled. You know, sitting alone, people staring at me, and my mind tortured by the thought that people might be thinking that I got stood up!
But then I realize, that this is just a fringe benefit of dining alone; for it makes you used to the discomfort of being judged by people and isn't that the fear that holds us back in life.

It holds you back from dancing freely in a party, that is if you have two left feet like me; it holds you back from making an unusual career choice; it holds you back from speaking on a stage and what not.

But, you are scared. I'm scared. We're scared. We're scared that we might not be good enough, that we might suck, that we might embarrass ourselves. And in that fear, tons of us, never pursue that career that might have been our calling in life; the career that had the power to make us happy. And tons of us miss out on tons of fun. And we miss out on all of this because we're scared of being judged by people who are scared of being judged themselves. Seems silly, doesn't it?

So, let us train our emotional muscles to get used to the discomfort of being judged. By doing things that push us; that propel us.
For, only by doing, small unusual and uncomfortable things; you'll get used to doing big unusual and uncomfortable things.

So, when are you going on a solo dinner?

P.s. You'll get to eat the dessert all by yourself! Now, it doesn't get better than that. Does it?

P.P.s God! Somebody get that waiter to read this, for he's still looking at me with pity.
For crying out loud, I didn't get stood up!

Until we talk next time, Take care!

Hugs!
Surbhi kukreja