Step Over The Edge

“Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” - Louis E. Boone

As a child, I loved heights – not for the vantage point or view they offered me, but the thrill they presented as I prepared to jump off and the smug satisfaction when I’d conquered that height. Grassy embankments, rugged tree branches, culverts beside a muddy creek, rickety wooden logs over gurgling streams – nothing was too scary or impossible. I would launch myself off with scarce regard for how I was going to land, whether I’d land on my feet or on my bottom in a heap of brambles, or make it back home with a few cuts, bruises, sprains or broken bones.

As children, we have all enjoyed these live-in-the-moment thrills, fearlessly leaping off without a second thought. Sometimes, we landed okay, and sometimes, we fell. But we just staggered up, dusted ourselves off and prepped for another jump. There is just something about that feeling of anticipation about the thrill of the moment.

Some of us continue to harbour that adventurous spirit in adulthood when we choose to skydive or bungee jump, barely even glancing at the liability waiver one must sign before undertaking a jump. A liability waiver is that little piece of paper that effectively declares we’re voluntarily taking this risk without any guarantee of success – or in other words, we voluntarily agree to a 50% chance of becoming a tiny, somewhat squishy smudge on the face of the earth below.

Some people freeze at the top and chicken out. There’s a lesson in that. Imagine having to look back at that moment and forever rue the fact that you let fear get the better of you? When we allow our fear to cripple us, it’s not about missing the thrill of the fall. It’s not about the falling itself (gravity will pretty much sort you out there). Winston Churchill said, “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities...because it is the quality which guarantees all others.” The real crowning moment of personal growth comes in that split-second decision to step off into nothing and conquer the fear.  Just acting out of self-determination in itself makes one a winner.

Our aspirations, dreams, goals and work are all leaps of faith. Where you are now could only serve as a launching pad to greater things – you only have to believe and take that jump. The victory isn’t in just believing – it is in actually leaping.

I am lucky to be surrounded by some truly courageous women. Women who have stepped out of their cocoons of safety and comfort to follow their passions and dreams. Women who have turned their backs on lucrative salaried employment to set up their own ventures. Women who have, at the pinnacle of their professional lives, stepped out of the limelight and embraced a life of quiet domesticity. Women who have, in a bleak economy and braving much criticism, quit their regular jobs just to take a break. Women who have chosen unconventional careers just so that they can make a difference in the world because it is so much more fulfilling. Women who have chosen to be the exception rather than the norm. Women who, by taking a leap of faith, have set themselves up to soar.

Erma Bombeck mused that if you’re looking for guarantees, “go live with a car battery.” She may have been talking about marriage, but those words hold true for most things. Are you ready to let go and step over the edge of safety or are you still waiting for proof that you’ll make a perfect landing? Leap. It’s the only way to get from where we are now to a better place.

Picture Courtesy (http://primility.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/leap-of-faith.jpg)