What's the worst that can happen?

Every time someone says to me, what do you think? Should I risk it? I say, "Do it!" "What's the worst that can happen?" "Live a little!"

It's great advice, just not any I've ever taken for myself.

I've always been the one who holds the bags, sits in the back, checks surreptitiously for seatbelts.

At the amusement park, I am not amused. Sure, you might talk me into going on that big roller coaster but those pictures don't lie! I'm the one who looks terrified, eyes sealed shut, white knuckled and clinging to the safety harness next to the girl woohooing all the way down.

But lately? That's changing for me. I find myself not clinging to my neighbor (stranger or not) during takeoff and landing. I'm more likely to have my face pressed to the window.

And at the water park this Christmas? I wanted to go on every ride, especially the ones that scared me. And I did-- All the ones that make you go head first and the ones that swirl you around and the ones that spit you out with so much force that you inadvertently flash the lifeguards. And I screamed and screamed until I laughed and laughed.

I loved every minute of it. There was a rush and an excitement that I've never experienced before (it's usually just terror). And I felt free.

4. I love this change in me.