Let the Adventure begin…. Going outside of your comfort zone to get your story

They have containers!!!
From Tuesday Morning
(c) 2015 P. Lynne Designs

Yesterday was a very eventful day.  Other than the usual waking up in my comfy bed, I had a business women’s meeting (Shout out to Awesome Women in Business).  I got there late, because unless I have my GPS on and secure, I am the most directional challenged person you could ever meet.  I drive a lot, but when I ride with someone who knows where they are going (i.e. my dad), I sit back and run my mouth.  That is what introverts do.  Another subject for a different day.

Anyway, it was on marketing your business, and I can spend a whole hour talking about how to do that with your own business, because I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, but that is not the subject for today.  Shall we move on?

After the meeting and networking with some of the ladies, who I have not seen since my accident in July, which was due to recovery, and getting my business ready for the holidays, I headed home…or did I?

I think I might add these.
From Tuesday Morning (c) 2015
P. Lynne Designs

I was hungry, but I did not want fast food.  I wanted something new or something that I have eaten in a long time.  This food had to be portable, but soft on my throat, because I am recovering from Strep Throat.  I had not been around the Bethel Road area in a while, so I went on a little adventure.  First I looked at a couple of strip malls, and if you are in the U.S, you know what I mean.  I did not want Chinese food, and one Indian diner looked questionable, so I passed those up.  I found my familiar, Micro Center, which if you do not have one, it is basically a computer store, and I needed to go in there to get some ink, but, as a rule, I do not get my printer ink from a computer store.  The prices are too high unless you find a deal, and I was not up for that.   What I was up for was Tuesday Morning, a store that is similar to Pier 1, World Market, and Big Lots in one store.  They have closeouts and clearances on items.  I looked in (Warning:  Very dangerous stuff ahead…) but walked out with nothing.  Why?  Because I took my credit cards out of my wallet, and at the moment, my bank will not like me if I had bought a candy bar with my debit cards…come on payday.

Cam Asian Market in Columbus, Ohio
(c) 2014 Google Images

Next, and this is where the true adventure began, I stepped next door to Cam, an Asian Market.  Folks, this chick has never been in an Asian market before because I am not Asian.  But this is a post about stepping outside of your comfort zone, and other than a trip to New York or San Francisco to visit Chinatown or even a trip to an Asian country, I get my Chinese food from a bistro around the corner and my Sushi from a diner across town.  Let’s just say that I was the only black chick in the market. 

I can honestly say without a doubt, if you want to fully immerse yourself in someone’s culture, go where the locals go.  Have your doubts, and things that your family and friends have told you about a culture in mind, but let it go when you walk into that culture.  I noticed that the people in the market, basically kept to themselves.  They were not on smartphones, except one, and he and his friend were millennials.  My cart almost ran into a lady, who did not say excuse me.  I said it, I guess she was surprised that I said anything.  The music was quietly playing in the background, and it was not the latest pop music in America, it was THEIR music.  The only English I heard was when I went up to the counter.   Last week, I had forgetting to get eggs in Whole Foods, but the only eggs I found were the type they ate, which were eggs like Thousand-year-old eggs, and boiled eggs in soy sauce.  I bought a piece of yeast Brown sugar bread for $1.99.  It was quite tasty, and if I put the effort in, I can make yeast bread.   They had a very small section of European goodies, but there wasn’t anything American in the store.  I now know where to get my Dim Sum, should I want to cook it, because Columbus’ Chinese restaurants do not like to serve Dim Sum at all.  Finding ingredients for Sushi has never been a problem.   I just do not have the manual dexterity it takes (nor the 10 years of schooling) to make the perfect roll, so I leave it up to the experts.

Brown Sugar Yeast bread from Cam
(c) 2015 P. Lynne Designs

So if you want an adventure, you do not have to spend $1,000 on plane tickets and $300 a night on a hotel room, just to get a blog post going.  Just do what I did yesterday.   Get out of your comfy bed, and go to a part of your city or town that you think you would never venture to, and visit some of the shops.  Become the observant, people watch.  Notice how they act, and write about it.  Be careful about taking pictures, it might not be their way. (I took pictures inside of Tuesday Morning for personal reasons and a project I am working on, but none in the market).  Be respectful of that culture, but do not trash-talk.  This is how we as a nation can begin to heal from all the hurt and pain.  You do not have to agree with everyone, even in your own little corner of the world, but who knows, that little corner may become bigger when someone not like you shares in the moment.  I enjoyed coming out of my comfort zone.