You Wouldn’t Know It But I

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Hershey Company for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hi! Today I’m working with Brookside to share something unexpected about myself. Brookside, usually known for their dark chocolate covered fruit, now makes fruit & nut bars dipped in dark chocolate or yogurt.

In addition to Dark Chocolate, Brookside Fruit & Nut Bars now come in Yogurt Flavored varieties with three new flavors to experience: Cranberry Blueberry with Citrus, Vanilla Fig and Mango Pineapple. BROOKSIDE Yogurt Flavored Fruit & Nut Bars are gluten-free, non-GMO bars that contain no artificial flavors. 

So far I’ve tried the dark chocolate cranberry with raspberry, dark chocolate cherry with pomegranate and yogurt cranberry blueberry bars. They’re all delicious.

Since the company hooked me up with so many bars I took some to my parents’ house to share. I tried to get my mom to take a picture of me with my two favorite flavors so far, but the pups were not making it easy to have an impromptu photo-shoot. Ha! At least I tried…

Brookside Fruit & Nut Bars are a snack that tastes like a dessert but is still satisfying and satiating. There are two sides to this bar just like there are two (million) sides to you and me. So, Brookside asked me to share something ‘unexpected’ about myself.

I feel like I’m an open book on RER so it took some thinking for me to realize there’s something I haven’t shared on the blog yet. And yeah, it might be surprising…

Since I started this blog 7+ years ago I’ve shared my first marathon, countless other races, my ups and downs in different relationships, travels, adventures and more. I never expected this blog to grow into something so big and I’m really grateful and blessed to be able to do what I do.

What you might not realize from reading along on my adventures is…

I’m scared.

I am super intimidated by blog events and speaking opportunities. I’m afraid to travel – mostly because I feel like getting to and from a new destination is kind of stressful. I get scared at the thought of running a super hard marathon. I feel unworthy to speak in front of groups.

Now you might be thinking, “Wait. How can she say she’s scared of all those things? She does them all the time.”

Yes. I know. It sounds weird for someone who has traveled to China and Belize and Israel and run over 10 marathons and spoken on many panels for social media, blogging and running to say they’re scared to do those exact things – but it’s true.

Ben used to tease me and say I was like my mom’s cat, Lucky. Lucky is scared of everything. He comes around because he wants food and love (just like me!) but if someone is too loud or moves too fast or the wind blows too hard he runs under the house to hide. I get scared and want to avoid a lot of things too Lucky, I understand you.

I want to hide when I’m scared – the difference is, I don’t.

I have a lot of anxiety around traveling and races and big events – but I do them anyway.

I was scared to run another relay race when I was invited to run Hood to Coast. But, I knew it was an amazing opportunity to run that gorgeous course with such an impressive team of runners so I said ‘yes’. I’m proud of myself because time and time again – I am scared, but I say yes.

I would have missed out on so many opportunities if I let my fears lead me.

Yes, I am still scared of a lot things – but I do them anyway. That’s the best I got right now. I can’t convince myself those things aren’t scary because they still really are to me. But I can say, “Yes, that’s scary! But I’m going to go.”

There are so many things I’ve done and seen and experienced because even though I was scared I did it anyway. It wasn’t easy at the time but I 100% am thankful I was able to push myself forward.

^ The picture above is from the day I spoke on a social media panel in Venice Beach a few months ago. I was nervous. I doubted the knowledge I had to offer, I was scared I might not look good enough to be up on stage… but I did it.

Fun fact… I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo that says “Be Brave” for a long time now. That two-word mantra has helped me a lot. So after the panel as I was walking around Venice Beach I stopped at a Henna Tattoo booth and had the artist write it on my wrist so I could ‘test run’ that tattoo idea. (I totally loved it and am still considering getting it for real.)

I was scared to go to travel to Israel without knowing anyone else that was going, but I said yes. I was also scared to run that super hilly Jerusalem Marathon but I did it.

I posted this to Instagram yesterday because it’s kind of along the same lines and I want to encourage you to be brave too.

You can #ShareYourBROOKSIDE and enter their sweepstakes too! Do this by sharing your unexpected side on Twitter or Instagram using #ShareYourBROOKSIDE and #SweepsEntry. You can also enter by commenting on a sweepstakes post on Brookside’s Facebook Page. See Full sweepstakes rules and check out the BROOKSIDE website here.