As I see It: Leaving Your Comfort Zone.

Good Morning Charleston!
thank you
glimpse of Charleston

It has occurred to me that my life may be a little mundane. The first thing I do is reach for the remote (yes, the remote) murmuring, “Let’s see what is happening in the world, today.” In addition, flip on Good Morning Charleston, which is a prelude to Good Morning America. After hearing the traffic and weather, I hear Denise’s alarm go off in the next room; we both use Pharrell Williams “Happy” as ringtones and alarms, making it the first song in the house in the morning, every morning. Hmmm, just had a thought.

Now continuing with predictable. Denise sleepily turns over, hits the snooze button and calls “Toshie” in a singsong voice. She then precedes to turn back over until the alarm goes off.

I have to have coffee, so I make a halfhearted attempt to stick my feet into my slippers and make my way down the hall to make COFFEE; but stopping to call Tasha who begs: “10 more minutes, pleeeeeeezeee” and of course it is a given.

We all know what we are going to do, and I did not really realize how mundane and unsurprising.

We will call Tasha 4 or five more times, Denise will threaten to leave her behind so I have to drive her to school. Her clothes she put out the night before will disappear, shoes are hiding somewhere, an in the last 30 seconds something has to be found for sharing,

Tasha will become slower, rather than faster but strangely enough they will both be out the door by 7:30. Only God knows how

We just need to get out more. Our lives are a tiny bit uneventful.

Everyone is afraid of charge, routine seems comfortable, we know what to expect. Therefore, we go to the same vacation spot, same church service, grocery stores…it is in our comfort zone.

However, sometimes stepping out of the zone will lead you to great things. Experiences and ideas.

Really, you say. My life is fine.

About 75 years ago this June a musician boarded an in Manhattan headed for Charleston SC. He was coming here on a dare. He was a city slicker, used to the nightlife and excitement of New York, but decided to try something different for a change. From Charleston he traveled by car and ferry to Folly Beach, where he would spend most of the summer in a nondescript cottage.

The musician was famous by age 20, had his first hit and Broadway musical by 25.

“The heat,” he wrote his mother “brings out every fly, gnat, and mosquito. I don’t do anything but scratch.”

Maybe change is overrated.

After seeing sharks in his pool, alligators on his lawn, awaking one morning to sand crabs in his cot: this city slicker had most certainly, had it.

However, he has forced himself into this change because of a book he picked up in 1926.

It is hard to be a success at such a young age, it would seem you do not have anywhere to go from up? So he decided Operas might be a change, stepping out of his comfort zone, yet again.

The story lent itself to a musical adaption; it was about a tenement neighhood called Catfish Row, which happened to be near Folly beach. He contacted the author, who, tho very excited to work with the musician wanted him to come down and meet the Gullah people, Slaves from Africa

That still resided in the area, with their own traditions and way of life.

Porgy and Bess became a hit for George Gershwin. The hit song “summertime” was from his own interpretation of what Charleston was. This

New York city slicker lived his life in the big city. Got up each morning to walk the streets of Manhattan and thought he had reached the end of his ideas.

A book changed him, and opened up a completely new world.

New ideas and learning about new cultures and lifestyles.

Gershwin's time on Folly was uneventable. He counted sea turtles, had a short love affair, he dropped the shirt and tie, and wore shorts. He got a wonderful tan. "Its hard to work here," he confessed to a friend.