Jump without a net

The good things in life – the really good stuff – doesn’t always come easily. Often it’s a bit dangerous. It’s as if there’s a bit of risk attached. Like you’re jumping without a net. Taking a leap of faith.

Maybe you screwed up and are feeling sheepish about making things right again. Maybe you want to lead a life that’s out of the ordinary. Maybe you want to change your life in ways that no one ever expected of you. Maybe you want live and love large.

While it seems so difficult to take a leap of faith – to jump without that safety net – it’s really rather simple. We all have two very simple and distinct choices to make. They are…

1. Continue doing exactly what you’re doing right now and risk living a life filled with pain and regret

OR

2. Take a dangerous leap and risk falling to the ground with no net, resulting in the potential for great pain, rejection, and embarrassment or the potential for smashing success.

See? The options are quite simple.

Perhaps you didn’t notice this because thinking through your personal leap of faith may have propelled you into an instant state of anxiety, but let me tell you what I observe about those two simple choices. Both options leave you with the potential for a bad outcome.

But somehow the pain of the first choice seems like it might be a lot worse and be more far-reaching in our lives. Always wondering “What if?” is a terrible way to run a life.

Whereas if you go with the second option, at least you tried. At least you mustered up your courage and took a chance. So maybe it goes your way or maybe it doesn’t. And maybe you’ll even still end up feeling miserable, but at least you will have taken a risk and made your best effort to fulfill your dream, and let me tell you, that means something. It means that you can walk away with your head held high. It means that you can rest easy knowing you had the courage to try. It means that you can close the door on that chapter of your life with no regrets.

So go ahead. Make that phone call. Take that far away vacation. Start that business. Do the thing that scares you the most. Jump without a net.

You never know…you may just land on your feet. In fact, you may just end up having a wonderful life. Then one day you’ll look back and think about what might have happened if you didn’t take that leap of faith and you’ll be so overjoyed that you did.

So go ahead. Jump.