“The walls of your comfort zone are lovingly decorated with your lifelong collection of favorite excuses.”

-Jen Sincero, from You Are A Badass At Making Money

Ahh, my comfort zone.

It’s comfortable to lounge on the couch or bed with my cat at my side and my beverage of choice at hand and read. It’s comfortable to do the same things over and over – routines are great sources of comfort.

And those routines usually are a great excuse not to do the things that matter. Say I’m into a nice routine of going to work every day. Go to work, come home, get a shower…yep, that’s pretty much the end of my day. By that time, because I’m tired, a routine is a lot more fun (or so I tell myself) than taking the camera outside for a while. Let alone actually try something new.

Then again, if I really sit back and think about it, this is not what I want to do. I don’t want to be the person on the sidelines of the things I care about. I don’t want to be a spectator. I want to fucking participate in the things I value: doing, creating, writing, photographing, etc.

I don’t want to choose comfort and maybe security over the possibility of doing something that matters. I much prefer being uncomfortable to being complacent.

Leaving my comfort zone is when the excuses kick in. I’m tired. I’m broke. I have to take care of… I don’t like… What if… If I do that, then someone won’t like me. Maybe it’s better if I just take a nap, watch TV, or read this book…

My personal favorite excuse, and the one that deserves the biggest beating is:

I’m not ready.

Well, news flash. Out of every person I know who is kicking ass at life, none of them were ready. They just fucking did whatever it is they do – make music, paint, write, take photos, build businesses, etc.

Given a choice, I would rather hang out with the people who are doing than the ones who are making excuses.

This is the kind of reasoning that has brought me to the idea that it’s time for the Salmon Apple Pie Gallery. To start, by the end of October, SalmonApplePie.com will have an e-store component – and the 2019 Salmon Apple Pie calendar will be available for purchase (please note, this year I will be fulfilling orders myself instead of working through a third party website that thoroughly fucked up the printing of last year’s calendars. Therefore all sales will be processed through SalmonApplePie.com and shipped from me via USPS priority mail except for my Canadian customers –both of you– who get special treatment should you choose to order another calendar). Eventually, the Salmon Apple Pie Gallery will have a physical location, most likely here in Skagway.

{Side note: Creative friends with an original and preferably hand-crafted product – we need to talk about having your product in my store.}

Yes, taking this step scares the piss out of me.

Yes, it’s true that I don’t really know what I’m doing.

And yet, it seems my background in retail, customer service, accounting, tax preparation, management, and all forms of creativity has brought me to the exact point where I either stay comfortable or get off my ass and do the thing that I want to do – have my own store.

I choose to depart from my comfort zone and go for it.