It’s okay if you take little leaps just to practice—a too-trendy outfit that you love but doesn’t really go with your personality, a dish you’ve never tried before, not having an itinerary during one day of an expensive vacation. (Photo by Redd Angel, Unsplash.com)
When you look before you leap, you make sure that there’s a safety net at the end in case things don’t work out. You do your due diligence. You time things properly so that the least number of lives get disrupted, including yours. You make a list of pros and cons. You ask for everyone’s advice so you don’t make a wrong decision.
When I’ve followed that path, I’ve found that I can congratulate myself on being wise and mature. I can move forward, knowing that I’ve pleased everybody. But my heart isn’t engaged. I don’t feel the exhilaration of a new adventure, of doing something that I can look back at as a turning point in my life. I follow the path—it’s straight and sure but rarely life-changing.
When I take the leap of faith, when I follow my heart (even when it makes no sense, even when there is no plan), I find myself, yes, scared, but also fully alive, as if I were opening up to my life’s calling, freeing myself from the shackles of what’s expected. Life throws the doors open for me, doors that remained shut when I followed the dictates of logic rather than what my heart desires.
It is then that I do my best work, that I challenge myself, that I question the stories that have held me back, that I surprise myself with what I can accomplish.
But what if you leap and the net doesn’t appear?
Trust that all is happening as it should.
Trust that there is a net, it just doesn’t look like the one you pictured.
Trust that it will all work out in the end.
