What are you holding onto that is holding you back?

A dream of mine had always been to go sky diving. I looked into a couple local places, checked on prices, weighed my options, and finally decided on a static line jump. I didn’t want to be tied to someone, but I liked having the safety measure of the parachute automatically opening up when leaving the aircraft. The big day came, and I sat through the training, and I practiced and read the altimeter and hung in the harness until it was time to suit up for the actual jump. The plane was a small Cessna that was modified with a step outside the door. The instructions were to put your feet on the step and, with a hand over hand approach, work your way to a certain spot on the plane’s wing strut, step off the step and hang there. The aerodynamics made it easy for you to hang there, not like trying to do a pull up in gym class, but more like floating in a pool on a summer day. The final thing you have to do before you are actually sky diving is to let go of the plane. Now, once you let go there is a person on the ground watching you, and they have a large arrow that they use to guide you back to the landing area. If you are going too far to the left, they point the arrow to the right, and you pull your right cord and start drifting right. If they are pointing away from you, just float and enjoy the ride. I had a little problem with the letting go part of this plan and hung on a little too long which meant once I finally did let go, all I was able to do was come straight back in for landing. I didn’t get to enjoy steering around and looking at scenery as I hung there from a piece of cloth.

Sometimes we have dreams and we know what we are supposed to do. We have coaches and we have mentors, but when the time comes are we able to let go of the plane? What things are you holding onto that are holding you back from being able to look around and enjoy what you are doing? Are you holding onto a job that you hate? Are you in a relationship that is hurtful or unhealthy? Are you hanging out with positive friends or colleagues?

After I landed, I had my parachute repacked and went up in the next flight. This time I stepped out of the plane, grabbed onto the right spot on the strut, floated for a second or two and let go immediately. I was able to do several full 360 degree turns in both directions; I saw the sun setting from the sky and it was an amazing experience. I ask again, what are you holding onto that is holding you back? Let go of the plane, and see what great things are all around you waiting for you to do.