Putting words to paper

A meditation on fear

The act of starting sometimes can be enough to stop you.

Those people on RedBull jumping off of crazy ski jumps to land on a designated, tiiiiny little square that will keep them from breaking their neck and dying. Or the adrenaline junkies who jump off a cliff 50 feet to land on a giant ocean of water. The college Dean who’s job is to speak in front of thousands of people at graduation.

Guess what. They’re still afraid.

It’s part of human nature to be afraid. It’s part of human nature to be hesitant. It’s what keeps us alive. It’s a survival tactic.

You stand on the edge of that cliff looking out at what’s in front of you. Of course you’re going to be afraid. All you see is the deep blue ocean water.

But once you take that leap all you feel is the sense of flying, and everything else goes away. You take that leap and your dopamine dumps into your body all at once, then without even knowing what shifted, you’re smiling and laughing your butt off because “you did what?!” Yes. You jumped off a cliff 10 feet in the air. You fell in love with someone you actually like. You rode a bike for the first time since you got injured. And guess what. One day you may jump off a cliff 20 feet in the air. Or even 40 feet.

To worry about what’s to come keeps your feet steady and still right exactly where you are. And yes. Sometimes that can be good. Sometimes it’s reassuring to stay where you are comfortable.

But you miss that feeling of flying, of pure freedom, of a presence in present moment that comes with the leap.

So when I look at myself in the mirror and wonder, “how in the world can I do that?”

I have only one answer: you do it scared.