Time to swing

There comes a time when you have to let go of the trapeze you’re on in order to move forward. You’ve built up momentum by swinging back & forth, higher & higher & higher. As you make your final swing upward, you know it’s time to release your grip and fly.  

Once you let go, you find yourself in a liminal space. Solid on either end; dreamlike and ethereal in the middle. It may feel like time slows as you float and fly and somersault toward your next trapeze. You've released your grip and you’re trusting you’ll land in the right spot. 

That’s an important point - the flying happens when you stop trying to control it. When you know that what you’re doing is right for you. When you respond to this knowing instead of being led by the “shoulds”.  

Also important is having the courage to release your grip. The alternative is swinging slower and slower until you finally come to a stop, holding on for dear life as you hang from the now-motionless trapeze, going absolutely nowhere.

It’s these trapeze leaps that deliver us to our next big things. Over the years, I’ve leapt a lot: leaving a cushy corporate job to start my own business then shutting down that business to start a new one. Walking the Camino de Santiago and deciding to take a group on the journey with me. Deciding to move to Boulder without knowing what that would look like and being connected to the right house at the right time (absolutely not on the timetable I planned!)

What allows you to fly free is being strongly tethered to what’s true for you. Being surrounded by people who are your safety net when you fall and your cheerleaders when you make it to the other side. It’s opening up fully to trust, especially in yourself.  It’s allowing yourself to let go of the trapeze you’re holding so you can fly toward the next one.

Think about a time you’ve had this experience. Reconnect to it and observe: how were you being before you had the courage to let go of the trapeze? What were you doing? Where did you land? Are you ready to do it again?

What’s true for you? Are you gripping one trapeze so tightly that you can’t fathom letting go? Or are you ready to soar?