Have you jumped before?

Image courtesy of Google Images and Palm Press



Its fast coming up to 1 year since I left the safety of fulltime employment with nothing to go to except a vague hope of doing something fulfilling. I call these moments ‘Jumping Off Points’ or JOPs for short. I’ll write more about what the last 12 months have brought myself and Andy a bit later.  

If you’ve read my mini biography Turning Inside Out: What If everything we've been taught about life is wrong you’ll know that I’ve done it before.  16 years ago I left my radio copywriting job to start my own business from the back room of a friend’s house. I only had a $500 to my name, so I spent it on a computer which didn’t even have a monitor so I had to quickly borrow one. ($500 didn’t get you much of a computer in those days) My learning curve was steep and I had to climb it. There was no other choice.  

And when I look back there were lots of other JOPs in my life, but at the time they went unheralded, they were just things I had to do to change my life at the time or pull myself out of a rut.

JOPs are when we have to leave our existing comfort zone for something unfamiliar, yet whatever it is it promises to be
far more interesting and adventurous than what we’re leaving behind. You can’t plan these events too much or over think them, they have to happen organically. You literally have to jump for them to work. You can’t leisurely climb down the side of the cliff or take the chairlift. That’s not how jumping works. If you had to think too much about jumping into the unknown you wouldn’t do it, you’d rather stay comatose in your Jason Rocker Recliner watching game shows.  

We all have our own Jumping off Points and more often than not, it’s only in hindsight you can recognise them. They are mini milestones (or bloody great big ones) that show you are braver than you think. And more often than not, when you look back on your JOP and remember how scared you were you realised that in the end everything turned out fine didn’t it? (If not way better.) It always does.

You can jump on your own or you can do it with someone else. My first major one, I did myself and this time Andy and I jumped together. Now nearly 12 months since jumping I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’m learning to embrace the unknown and see everything with a sense of possibility and adventure. I’m learning, growing and expanding in ways that I could never have imagined. I’m now writing more books, doing author talks, inspiring kids with the #beingyouisenough school visits, running Outside Creative and holding workshops with Andy and scheming up new ideas every day.  

It’s far more preferable than sitting in an office full of anxiety and fear which is what I was doing before. It hasn’t been easy though, life wasn’t meant to be, but I can guarantee you I feel well and truly ALIVE!

You can either trust life or not. I choose to trust life and my JOPs prove that life has my back too.

JOP’s are not for everyone and everyone’s situation is different, but if you find yourself standing on the edge wanting to do it, but full of too much fear about what may happen or what may not happen, then there’s only one thing left to do. You need to jump. Trust life has your back.
If you’ve had a jumping off point, I’d love to hear about it as it may help other people to have the confidence to get out of a rut or situation they feel stuck in.

Go. Jump!