Dec. 13: Comfort zone

I guess I have to tell this story again. Here goes. 

It was the late 90s. I was in my mid-20s. Still living at home in Calgary, shifting from one dead end job to another. My little sister and bro were both blazing their individual career paths while I was washing dishes at hotel restaurants and/or driving legal documents and architectural blueprints across town.

So yeah, I felt like a loser. I'd studied theatre in theatre school and then discovered that I didn't have the talent or the drive to make it as a pro. I wanted to write and I had a fledgling idea for a novel, so I decided to save up my money for a good six months and then move to a small town where I didn't know anyone so I could immerse myself in my craft.

This I did in the fall of 1998, moving to a small town in the southeastern corner of Saskatchewan. Nothing came of that novel but, while in that small town, I penned a couple pieces for the local newspaper. I used those pieces to get hired at a bigger newspaper, and then I got hired at an even bigger newspaper, and now, more than two decades later, I am editing a newspaper. 

None of this would have happened had I not left Calgary to pursue a dream. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened had I just stayed in that comfort zone. At the time, I thought I'd go away for six months and then move back to Calgary, but I haven't been a full-time Calgary resident since I left. I have visited several times, but I haven't lived there for the entirety of the 21st century (so far.)

And I'd like to think that one day, I'll finish that book.