Great moments can happen when you least expect them.
Like when you’re in a harness and jumping on a trampoline.
There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world—some of it closer to home than we might prefer—and it makes you realize how real life is.
And how precious it is.
Our company had a fun family event over the weekend, and there were a lot of activities available for kids and adults alike. One of those was a trampoline contraption thing that you were harnessed into and then could jump up and down as high as you could go, and you could also attempt flips and whatnot if you wanted. I decided to try this one out, and I really wanted to try the flip thing. After I started bouncing really high, though, I wasn’t so sure the flip sounded like a good idea. It seemed scary. The guy running the contraption assured me it was safe, but I didn’t know him and wasn’t sure how trustworthy he was.
He wasn’t even jumping.
After a little while, I sort of tried to flip backward, but it was more difficult than I expected—probably because it was only a halfhearted attempt. And then I realized something: I’m going to regret it if I walk away from this trampoline without doing the freaking flip. So that was it. My mind was made up, and I was going to flip. I flung myself backward, and that first attempt nearly ended in a disaster. I didn’t go quickly enough, and I almost landed on my head or face on the trampoline. The second attempt was much better (at least I think it was), and the flip was complete.
And I wasn’t scared anymore.
I know it was a pretty small feat, but it was also a reminder that sometimes you simply have to jump and go all in when you do. You can’t do the halfhearted thing if you want what you really want to be a reality. Otherwise, you’ll be jumping up and down where it feels completely safe forever.
But safe isn’t always good—there has to be risk every now and then.
If you’ve watched anything in the news lately, you’ve probably been reminded that way too many unexpected things happen in this world, and you only get one life. Why waste it not doing the things you know you need to do simply because a little fear gets in the way? I’m not always brave. I wish I were, but I definitely have moments when I’m a complete pansy. There are people out there who are brave every single day, and it shows in the way they treat people—like those who willingly put themselves in the face of danger to protect others. To me, that’s one way to live out love.
That’s jumping straight into the flip.
It would be great if Pollyanna’s vision of never-ending gratefulness and people genuinely loving one another all the time were reality, but it’s not. Life is rough sometimes, and that thankfulness isn’t always there. And that love isn’t always there. There’s pain and loneliness and fear and anxiety and heartache and tears and anger and sadness and guilt—and so many other things that keep us from having constant smiles on our faces.
But those things shouldn’t stop us from trying.
In the movie Center Stage, Jody has more than one moment when she fears she isn’t good enough for the dance academy and that she might not make it as a dancer. When she attends a class in the city away from the academy, one of the best bits of advice the instructor gave the class was simple: “Forget about the steps—just dance the s*** out of it!”
Because doing so is jumping straight into the flip.
