Jump!

Every great journey begins with the first step, right? We’ve all heard it before, said many different ways and attributed to many different people throughout history. There is no way to argue the truth of the statement or the simplicity of the sentiment. What’s ignored by the statement, however, is the difficulty in making the first step to the correct direction! The path we want to take, maybe even need to take, is right there, directly in front of us. But we know there are potential hazards on the path, and we have no way of knowing if we’ll overcome those hazards along the way. Because all we can do is imagine and visualize the goal at the end of the path, we can’t even be certain the path ends the way we hope it does so we step this way and that, circling around the area we know instead of taking that first step on the journey.

As we get older and more set in our ways, our comfort zone narrows, and we find ourselves using even more excuses to keep from making that first step on our journey. There are few paths in life we get to choose, and fewer still we have a reasonable amount of control over. Yet we still dance around at the trailhead, aware this is the path we need to step down, The Path that will change our future for the better, yet still unable to make the first step.

Sometimes, the first step is a forced issue. A death, loss of a job, marriage, birth of a child, accident, divorce the list goes on. Being kicked in the butt and sent down the trail is certainly an effective way to get the journey started, but a large portion of choice and control are removed from the equation, and an element of panic introduced. So much for much of the enjoyment of the journey. Without the kick in the butt, however, we may wander in circles at the start indefinitely. As we waste time, and our situations change, the path changes as well and it rarely becomes easier to step down. In many cases, what was once a reasonably easy downhill transition to the path has become a cliff, and leaping off the cliff is a much scarier proposition and where I find myself today.

I’m fortunate that life to this point has been good, and I’ve had little fear of being kicked off the cliff. But it’s also allowed me to become complacent, ignoring the things in life I need to do, to accomplish for myself. I’ve walked many paths my wife and I have chosen together, as well as several to stand by my wife as she travels. All have turned out fine, and I have few complaints, but now I need to take a few paths of my own choosing. The cliff before me is much smaller than it could be, but it’s still a cliff, and still daunting. I have an advantage many don’t as they jump off a cliff to start a journey though, and it’s the same advantage we provide for our children as they step into adulthood- a parachute! My wife (my best friend) will still be with me, and will be my parachute when I step into the abyss. It will be a bit like BASE jumping, and I expect a serious high-speed adrenaline rush to start. I may land hard , might get beat up a bit at the bottom, but I also know with my parachute I’ll still be intact to continue on the new path. You’ll hear more as I go, but now… Time to leap!

Take your parachute and go, and wave to me as you are falling Take your parachute and jump, you’ll hear a sound, it’s just me calling. It’s a beautiful day for jumping, and nothing’s here to keep you back I’ll make it safer for you, your parachute is on your back -”Parachute” by Something Happens

Be kind to each other out there and, as always, thanks for reading! -mike