I recently went on vacation to Montana with my daughter. It was the first summer vacation I was able to take in two years because I was undergoing reconstruction surgery on my chest in my quest to recover from the aftermath of chest wall cancer. I had spent my previous 2 summers at the University of Washington Hospital. Not exactly what I had in mind but that is all behind me now!
The weather was amazing, the scenery was spectacular and the friends and kids, off the hook! We spent our days in and on the water, reading books, jet skiing, drinking wine and all things Flathead Lake. Half-way through our trip, we took a boat out to this place called the "rocks." At this particular place you had to jump off the boat and swim to the bottom of the rocks where you climb up as high as you want and then you jump.
So, what I should share with you is that I am very afraid of heights and I just completed having the left side of my chest completely reconstructed. So I was a pretty nervous when my daughter Audrey asked me to jump with her. But it was hot, I had to pee and I needed to prove to myself that I could still do this after all that I have been through in the last 4 1/2 years. So up the rocks I went!
In the end it was not so hard. It was actually fun and freeing and I felt like a kid again. The first time in a long, long time I had felt that way. So what did I learn from this rock jumping experience?
Well, I learned to just jump. I don't mean in a stupid crazy way, like head first in shallow water, but sometimes in life you just need to jump. Jump in feet first and scream "hell yes!" Ladies, this is the way we MUST approach our lives. This is the only life you have to live so you better make it magnificent. When you choose not to jump, what are you missing out on? What opportunities, what relationships, what experiences are you letting pass you by that could make your life more fabulous? Trust, love, money, happiness, peace? What is it that you want for your life? Decide and then jump! Do not wait another second or it WILL pass you by.
The thing is, when you "practice" jumping maybe it is just one little jump at a time, you can work up to bigger jumps, higher heights, and larger dreams as you practice and build your jumping muscle. The whole point here is to practice jumping each and every day so that it becomes natural and effortless. This is when life becomes really interesting and rewarding. It is when great things happen, you fall in love, get a new job, start your own company, fly to Russia and take the Orient Express because you are obsessed with Agatha Christie novels or Dr. Zhivago . It is all right there at your fingertips. All for the taking and all for you... if you just jump.