Project Unboxed: Week One: Beginner's Jitters!

*(My Project Unboxed posts will be a week behind true time so even though I've technically been doing this experiment for two weeks, I'm titling this post, "Week One").

When I used to play sports back in school I would become disraughtly nervous before a game would start. Sometimes it would be so bad I'd have to use the restroom four or five times before our last team pow-wow and the sound of the buzzer. 

Photo by Greeting Tree 

Once that buzzer went off though, all my jitters and butterflies in the stomach would disappear. After several seasons of this I realized it wasn't the game itself that made me nervous, it was the anticipation of the game. Would it be my best game or worst game? Would our team play really well together or fall apart under the pressure? Would I turn over the ball to the other team?  What if I fail my team? My whole team is counting on me! But like I said, once the game started all those nervous thoughts disappeared and I was only focused on one thing.... playing the very best for my team, my coach, and my school. 

Photo by Pexels: CCO

I had all these same feelings when I started Project Unboxed. When I processed through all the negative thoughts I was having over the experiment I realized that all these thoughts were being driven by the same thing.... fear of failure. No one wants to be a failure, but I find this funny because at some point or another we all are. You really can't succeed until you've failed first and you can see this by all the famous inventors, discoverers, CEO's, etc. All of them failed. So what am I so afraid of? Let's dig our heals into the ground, set our eye on the horizon, and plow through! 

Photo by Greeting Tree

I imagine Project Unboxed like one of my basketball or soccer games in high school. The jitters and nerves filled my existence the week leading up to the experiment, but once the buzzer went off, it all disappeared. I'm ready to conquer! 

The first week really hasn't been too bad. In fact, I've enjoyed some of the challenges thus far.  One of my first challenges was throwing a birthday party for my daughter. For more information on how that challenge turned out click the video below!

Another challenge I've had is my father-in-law is coming into town next week and I had to replace the shower curtain liner in our guest bathroom. Normally I would have ordered one off Amazon, but I couldn't do that this time around. Thankfully I found one at a local hardware store and guess what?! It was the same price as the cheapest one I could find on Amazon.... go figure!

Photo by Greeting Tree

My husband and I are also having to work together a little more when it comes to certain purchases. Normally there are things that he keeps track of around the house and when it runs out he goes out and buys what we need and vice versa. Because we can't use the convenience of the big-box stores this method isn't very practical so we're having to talk these type of purchases out more, which I think in the long run is good for us. Only time will tell! 

Photo by Greeting Tree

My last challenge of the week is Apple Turnovers! My husband and Father-in-law both love apple turnovers and I usually would buy them from the Kroger bakery, but this year I'm learning how to make them from scratch! Be sure to look for the recipe in the next blog post! 

Photo by Pexels; CCO 

What moments in life have given you the jitters? 

Leave your comments below!