Well, it must be June.
June means I'm back working part time at the Star Herald during summer break from my real job.
Each June I start by filling in for vacationing sports editor John Rittenhouse for a couple of weeks.
And that means each June I step out of my comfort zone.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy writing and I'd say I follow high school sports pretty closely.
Until it's time to write detailed articles about tennis or golf. Or even track or baseball.
It turns out watching sports or even reading what John or others write about sports is way different from being the one to actually do the writing.
It's actually a huge challenge to accurately report all the aspects of all the different sports that this newspaper covers.
It's a yearly reminder that I don't know quite as much about sports as I might think.
It's humbling.
It's very much stepping out of my box.
And that's a very good thing.
It's good to step out of our usual boxes and stretch our normal boundaries.
At least that's what I tell myself when I get to dig through state track results from four different schools while trying my best to keep prelims and finals separate, getting the numbers all correct and not accidently forgetting any athletes.
Or when I have to wrap my head around how a baseball batter who has no hits in a game can actually have two RBIs in the same game.
That's batting in two runners who score, for those of you who have to step out of your box to understand baseball stats.
See, isn't this fun?
Maybe it's time for you to step out of your box as well.
Not everyone gets the opportunity to try a different career for a short time like I do each summer.
But there are many other ways you can try new things or expand what's "normal."
Why not try a whole new hobby, eat at a restaurant you've never heard of, listen to a new radio station or sit in a different spot in church?
OK, maybe that last one is too much adventure.
But I bet you get the idea.
I have a ways to go in stepping outside of my admittedly tightly bordered box.
But my summer gig here at the Star Herald always helps.
So how about you?
Will you talk to a stranger who is different from you? Cross a vacation spot off your bucket list? Forgive the fill-in sports guy who gets your kid’s stats wrong in the local paper?
Or maybe listen to a cable news channel that doesn’t perfectly fit your political leanings?
Whatever it is, get out of your box and enjoy the new scenery.
And if you’re curious, a walk with the bases loaded or a sacrifice hit both count as RBIs without being counted as hits.
There’s so much to learn outside my box.