Trying New Things

In my recent Spring Bucket List post, one of the things I wanted to do was try something new. I really wasn’t sure how far I would take what I said. I am a very reserved person when it comes to certain things. My anxiety keeps me trapped in a shell when it’s something I have never done before. However, like I have mentioned I have been working on myself.

Friday night I went into work as usual. Just before clocking in, I texted Chris that I wanted him to take me on a date Saturday. We hadn’t had a date, just the two of us, in awhile. I was feeling confident in myself enough to give him free rein of choosing what to do.

Normally, I hate surprises because I don’t get a chance to talk my anxiety down. I would get anxiety fearing the unknown, the things I can’t control. What if it’s something that I know I would never do? That was my old thought process. This time, I was fully confident that Chris would know me well enough to pick things I would not have issues with. (I could never do anything that involves falling (bungee jumping, jumping out of a plane etc)).

Saturday morning came around and the only thing I knew was I wanted to get a pedicure before our official date started. I set up the appointment and we all got ready for the day. We went grocery shopping, brought the stuff back home, and then met our friends for lunch.

We went to a location I normally would not be comfortable in. It was a locally owned cafe. I was pleasantly surprised by the awesome service. Their menu had a lot to offer and you can tell it was all made from scratch. I definitely cheated on this meal, but that doesn’t mean I am throwing in the towel entirely. As we were all chatting our friend was talking about the bakery next door. He told us we had to check it out! Normally I would be very hesitant to be in the area longer than we needed to be, but I was perfectly happy following along to the bakery. It felt so good not having anxiety in that moment. We bought a few items and said our goodbyes.

We got in the car and Chris asked me, “so does that count as trying new things?” I told him I didn’t feel like it did because anyone can try new food, I wanted it to be something more exciting, more adventurous.

After we left the bakery, I got a notification that I had some packages delivered. I let Chris know, but first we stopped by the Profile store to get my weekly supplies. We drove home and got the packages taken care of.

I really wasn’t sure what Chris had planned.I knew the kids were going to hang out at Chris’ parent’s house for a few hours while we went on our date. I figured at the very least we would eat dinner. We hung out at his parent’s for a bit and then headed to the nail salon.

I haven’t had a pedicure since the day before we got married, over 6 years ago. I had found this picture on Pinterest of some nails and I just HAD to get them.

The experience was okay. It started off not so well. The nail place was so busy that after I got to my chair and started soaking my feet, it wasn’t until 20 minutes went by that someone actually came over. Apparently they had a miscommunication. It happens. I also was experiencing nausea, which I think was more like motion sickness from the massage chair. It felt good on my shoulder, but I didn’t want to vomit so I turned it off. The actual pedicure itself was so nice! I love having my feet massaged! I opted for the “extra” package, because why the heck not? It’s not like I get this done often! Chris did enjoy getting a chair massage in the chair next to me (I couldn’t convince him to get a pedicure).

After a little dilemma of getting the right person to do the design on my toes, I finally was finished. Here is how they turned out.

After we were done with the nail salon we drove past an ice skating rink on the way to the gas station. Chris said something like, “that place is busy!” Somehow or another I came to the realization that he was probably hinting at something and I said, “why is that where we are going?” He said, yes. I didn’t believe him for a minute. I knew he had been wanting to take me ice skating (I have never been). We went back and forth for a few minutes with me trying to figure out if he was serious. He was. Though, it wasn’t was I was expecting to be doing and I did get anxiety as soon as I found out, I still agreed to go.

Luckily, we still had to eat dinner so that I could prepare myself for the ice. We drove past this well known sushi place and I asked if that’s where we were going. He said I had to decide between sushi and Vietnamese. His original plan was to go to the Vietnamese place, so I chose that one. He knew I liked pho.

We decided to be a little adventurous at dinner and try a couple new things. They had this meatball roll and it came with this peanut butter sauce, it was so good! Their crab Rangoon was also perfect! I did get pho, but went with steak and tendon. Yes, tendon. It was delicious! I also had to get my boba drink. I tried honeydew with blueberry boba. Yum! Chris had Banh Mi (I think that is how it is spelled) which was also delicious. I, however, started feeling sick again. My body isn’t use to eating all these fried carbs anymore, though they were delicious!

We finished dinner, paid the bill, and then we had some time to kill. We decided to wander into TJ Maxx. I’m a sucker for holiday decorations and I wanted to see their Easter stuff. We wound up leaving with a pair of sunglasses and 2 books for the kids.

The time came to head to the rink! I was excited to finally try ice skating. My weight use to hold me back from doing anything physical as I felt like all eyes were on me as the elephant in the room. My new confidence helped me push through that. We laced up our skates and headed to the ice.

It was much more intense than I imagined! Every time I let go of the wall it wasn’t long before I felt like I was breaking my back trying to stay balanced. I had a hard time letting go. My skate was also causing my foot to hurt pretty bad. I don’t know if that is normal or not, but my other foot was fine. I think I did about 2 or 3 laps around the rink (holding the wall) before I decided to sit down. I had to redo my skates, though it didn’t help the pain. I started feeling bad because I really wanted to experience it differently with Chris. He was so excited about going and I didn’t want to ruin it. We went back out and around another 2 times before I decided I didn’t want to skate anymore. I felt bad and like I was a pansy. I didn’t want to ruin his fun or our time together, but it was too much for me with the foot pain and anxiety. I told him he could go out and I would watch him for a little bit since he actually knew what he was doing. He went out and went around one time and then came back to me.

I honestly don’t know if he thought I would even go in once I knew where we were going. So I am proud that I tried. I also want to try again, I know it takes getting used to. It takes practice for sure! In the end though, I tried. It was a fun date night and very much needed. I am truly lucky to have my husband.

I still feel like this trying new things thing can keep going further. I am opening up more to experiences. You never know unless you try and even if you don’t like it, at least you can say you tried.

What’s something new you have tried lately?

Jenn