Throwing myself off the deep end of How

We all find ourselves on the edge of big decisions throughout our lives, and most of us inch up to that pool of opportunity and cautiously check out the view:

“Oooh, that looks really interesting, but it’s a long way down…”
“Wow, that looks so much more refreshing than where I am, but I can’t see the bottom…”

We turn to our spouses, our families, our friends for confirmation of our concerns, asking if it’s safe, or wise, or the right time to jump. We wonder if our life vest-constructed of the resources, skills, abilities and support of our loved ones-will carry us back to the top, or wonder if instead we will we sink like a rock to the bottom, learning that we didn’t really ever have a flotation device at all, nor did we have a backup plan to get us back to the surface and keep us afloat.

So. We stand at the edge, and watch others who have leapt before us, as they reap the rewards of their decision. They beckon to us, and say, “Come on in, the water’s great!”, and just as we think, “Yes, I can, I will!”, we see them get swamped by someone doing a cannonball, and we quickly back away from the edge, and think, “No, no, I’m fine here. At least it’s a known quantity. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the unknown.”

We do ourselves and our children a disservice by never going further than dipping our toes into that water. We tell them that it’s better to be safe than sorry and teach them by our behavior never to be risk takers. Is that the kind of role model we really want to be?

To paraphrase Andre Gide, we can’t discover new oceans unless we have the courage to move away from the security of the here and now.

How can we gain the courage to move forward?

We can plan. Planning is good, but not when we attempt to cover every eventuality.

We can prepare. That is good, too, but not when we allow ourselves to get lost in the preparations.

We can practice. That only goes so far as well, since we all know it just isn’t the real thing.

So, here is my suggestion. Let’s agree to make a plan and set our sights on a destination. Then we just need to grab ourselves by the back of our bathing suits, take a deep breath and throw ourselves in to the deep end of how.

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And now, dear readers, I invite you to view a short and corny video that is a metaphor for today’s message. It is set in the mid-sixties, and features three young siblings: Brian, Kim (yup, that’s me in that cool red bathing suit) and Scott.