They Jumped

Wanna know one of my favorite things in the world, something that inspires me like none other? It’s watching someone to decide to take a leap of faith. To uproot themselves, to change careers, to make the choice to do something you never dreamed they would do. To take all that they are and all that you’ve fallen in love with and to pack it all up, neatly folded into a little blue leather suitcase and to say, “I’m off on a new adventure. Wish me luck.”

I feel it when someone says, “We’re getting married.”

I feel it when someone says, “We’re having another baby.”

I feel it when someone says, “We’re moving to a new country.”

I feel it when someone says, “I’m leaving my job to pursue a passion.”

I feel it when someone says, “I’ve always been a night person, and now I’m trying to be a morning person.”

I feel it when someone says, “I thought this was me, but now I’m feeling called over here to this brand new territory.”

I can feel my little excited butterflies beating in my chest and traveling up my throat. They make my breath quicken. I can feel this unexplainable surge of hope that jumps, like a spark of fire, from the inspired person to me. It’s almost too hot to hold, certainly too spirited to capture. I can feel my own mind swell with the idea that the box is bigger than any of us have allowed it to be, and there is more, ever more, outside of these walls.

Seth Godin explains it this way:

“…It’s encouraging to imagine that we could build a school or a coaching program or other external forces that would create more artists.

And yet most mentors and coaches and teachers will tell you that few of their students ever do [succeed], not in comparison with their potential. A few break through and change everything, and we celebrate them, but what about everyone else?

The artists are different. They took a leap.

They weren’t pushed. They jumped.”

Tagged as: inspiration