Might As Well Jump

Being stuck is one of the most uncomfortable feeling that one can have, like a wedgie on steroids that no matter how much you wiggle, you can’t release. We have developed a plan, a means to and end, a well scripted theme to move us forward, we just have to pull the trigger. Having taken steady aim with the target in sight we feel frozen in time… fear of our own success has us paralyzed.

But really, what do we have to fear? History is full of people who have dared and succeeded through all types of sacrifice and turmoil. Why can’t we. Why can’t we indeed. Sometimes we need to take a different course of action to jump-start our dreams. I’d like to share an experience that I had that might put things into perspective.

I’ve been attempting to escape the corporate grind off and on for a few years now. Some attempts not well thought through, others not in alignment with my true authenticity and bound for failure from inception. I have always envied those entrepreneurs that had made the leap and been wildly successful, but in reality, they are the minute few that have become media darlings.

I had the concept, the training and the confidence to pull it off, or so I thought, but I was hopelessly lost and couldn’t pull the trigger. Having temporarily shelved my ambitions and falling back into the daily grind, I had an opportunity to do something that would certainly shake things up, an activity that I knew would change all my concerns about being “safe” and taking the conventional way out…Skydiving.

All the spiritual teachers that I have been studying over the years have shared the same theme about facing your fears…Take the steps and the  stones will meet your strides. Hold truth in your actions and the teacher will appear, follow your bliss and new discoveries will unfold… and countless other metaphors. These teachings are all well and good but when you are stuck, sometimes you need more than words and a philosophy to get you off your ass.

On jump day, I was being strapped in the harness that would attach me tandem to my instructor. Strapped in so tight that my legs were nearly numb, we climbed into the plane to take our seats on the floor along with four other duo’s. Two of my jumping companions shared deer in the headlights expressions on their faces, the third was a true adrenaline junkie that looked like he would jump as soon as we were airborne and the final one,  like me,  was wondering WTF she was doing there.

The pilot took us up to 13,000 feet and one of the instructors opened the rolling door exposing the cool howling winds. I was the second one to jump. I was told to scoot on my backside to the open door and dangle my legs out of the plane. Looking down from that height, my butt puckered…there was only one way that I would be getting back to terra firma.  

And then it happened…Whoosh!…I was sucked out of the plane flailing like a butterfly that just missed the windshield. I had no idea from one moment to the next if I was looking at the ground or the sky as we tumbled through the cold air. With a surge of adrenaline through my body like I have never experienced, I was on a high like no other. We leveled off, arms out and legs tucked behind in what is called the banana pose as the free fall began.

The only sound was the wind rushing past my face as we fell 120 mph through the atmosphere, my cheeks flapping in the breeze through the biggest grin I’ve had in years, if not ever. The views were incredible as we rotated during the decent, the Olympic mountains on one side and the Strait of Juan De Fuca stretching out over the horizon on the other. free-falling is the most incredible feeling, I had no fear of hitting the ground because at that moment, I really thought that I could fly.

During the fall, I got a nudge from my spirit guides, “you have taken one step you can take another”. Well Duh…this is something that I had known and a statement that had been repeated by my guides several times, but it certainly commanded more attention now, as I was falling back to Earth, than it ever did in any boardroom.

The chute was pulled once we hit the 5,000 foot mark and we began to gently descend under the canopy. We had barely touched down on solid ground and all I could think about was when can I jump again. It was probably the most expansive experience in my life at the time when I needed it most.

 I had confronted one of man’s most primal fears and walked away with a new sense of accomplishment and perspective on what the spiritual elite have been lecturing for centuries…take the steps, have faith and all the details will take care of themselves.

After the jump I was on a three-day high. My energy level had increased as well as my creativity. In those three days that followed, I wrote the text for my Web Page, started to write Blog articles again and developed a give away program for my web followers. Once again, I was back on the spiritual journey that I was here to experience. The road had indeed risen up to meet my feet. When I sense that I am getting that blocked ever again, I know how to break through…Might as well jump.