TPG Blog #11: Outgoing Introverts Unite and Chicken Salad on French Rolls

Hi there!

I’m an outgoing introvert – yes, I said it.  Now listen, after you stop laughing and before you start your rebuttal, I’m telling you --- I AM!  I’ll welcome you with open arms, chit-chat with you about your day and life and kids and career and all of it – that’s the outgoing part.  Check, I’ve got it.  Reticent - not revealing one’s thoughts or feelings readily – check, me also and that’s part of being an introvert.  I told this to a friend the other day and she said that yes, she believed it after taking a class that I led at the gym, adding that her daughter was one too which lent credibility to my claim. I made sure everyone felt welcome and then ever so quietly led the group, adding comments like “two more reps if you’d like” and incessantly looking at my notes and the clock.  You have the picture, I’m sure. Inside, I was quite honestly a wreck, and it was THE longest hour of my life.  A great playlist was the only thing that saved me along with the fact that they were my friends!

My friend, Laura, posted the above quote on her Instagram story and at about the same time, Jenny Marrs from “Fixer to Fabulous” wrote on her Instagram post, in part:

“Our society tells us that we aren’t wise enough to be listened to when we are young and then we need to step quietly out of the way as we age because we have had our chance and God couldn’t possibly choose to use us now.

That is a lie.

I don’t know who needs to hear this today but please remember this:  you are not unqualified because you’re “too young” and you are not counted out because “you’re too old.”  Just keep on running your race well because you are here – living and breathing, right now, this very day, at this exact point in history – for a purpose.”

The lesson to love one another includes ourselves.  Sometimes we are the only one standing in our way; more comfortable to stay where we are because it’s mediocracy that we know.   I’m not here on this earth to serve as a fitness instructor, coach or drill sergeant and that’s okay.  I ventured into the unknown, though, and was proud of myself for doing so.  I’m taking on projects that I haven’t done before, figuring them out and moving to the next one.  At one point last week, I told my husband, Brad, that I had 5 things going and hadn’t done any of them before, but I was moving.  God can’t correct a stalled car, even an outgoing introverted one.

And I have two news flashes for you: 

1. No one knows what they’re doing.
2. No one is looking at you – not keeping score, not any of it.

So, what do you have to lose?  You may even find yourself along the way. 

Remember the playground game where we stood in two lines across from each other, linked arms and said, “Red rover, red rover, let _____ come over.”  _____ would run towards the weakest link in the opponent’s human chain and try to break it.  If successful, they would take someone back to their team until only one team stood. 

That’s what we’re doing here.  Link arms and let’s go!

***

Here you go, busy one!  This Chicken Salad Sandwich recipe --- put together, slice some melon and open a bag of chips.  Dinner is served on a summer night right before a night swim (yes, it counts as a bath for your kids) with the pool light on.  That’s summer in the beautiful San Joaquin Valley.  Jump in and live it up!

Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Soft French Rolls

(Joy Rodriguez, The Bakersfield Californian, 7/2001)

• 1 box Rice-A-Roni brand fried rice
• 1 – 2 cups cup chopped, cooked, boneless chicken (rotisserie chicken from Costco or Smart & Final = the best AND your kitchen stays cool!)
• 1 can water chestnuts, chopped & drained
• 1 bunch chopped green onions
• 1 – 2 cups mayonnaise
• ½ cup toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Prepare rice according to package directions.  Cool and add remaining ingredients.  Chill and serve on sandwich rolls – I use Francisco French Sandwich Rolls.

I love the quote “Be the kind of woman that fixes another woman’s crown, without telling the world it was crooked.”  Let’s link arms and cheer each other on this week – it’s what we do, you know.

xoxo

Kelly