Greetings, HaQ readers! I have the privilege of being your traveling correspondent this week. Several friends and I are taking advantage of the little breath at the end of a semester to spend some time doing some birdwatching.

OK – a lot of birdwatching. As in – one day I hiked six miles, bruised both knees, and got lost four times, and we got to see a bird many people look for for years and only get to hear because it comes out at night. That was cool. Another day I got to see the two rarest birds in Arizona. In one day. Amazing.

In one way – this IS my comfort zone. I love birds, I love seeing them where they live. I enjoy travel and finding new places. There’s so much to learn and to see and it lets me do a lot of both.

In another way – this is sooo NOT my comfort zone. I’m away from the fur fam and I always miss them. Nothing is familiar and my old routines often don’t fit. And I end up in some situations that I really wouldn’t volunteer for. Drive up windy unpaved canyon roads with unprotected drop-offs? Seriously? No thanks… Definitely not my comfort zone. But I’ve done it three times in two days.

Experiences like these are like cactus flowers, a beautiful surprise in a prickly setting. The trick is to make way for the thorns. When you do, finding a new rhythm by breaking the old pattern is so liberating. I’ve been pushed to move more, listen better, learn fast, and to push beyond my everyday anxieties. Getting beyond that comfort zone has pushed me into an ALIVE zone. And that is a blessing and a privilege.

Stay tuned for more on the Here’s a Quarter blog next week! As always, your thoughts and comments are always welcome – they are moderated (I know – adulting again), so they may take a little while to appear, but I read them all and appreciate that you were here. Thank you!