Is it time to take a leap?

Jumping out of a plane really does go against all your best instincts!?

It was something I had wanted to do for years but had never discussed with anyone or sought out an opportunity to do it and then in 2020 my 17-year-old daughter announced that she would really love to do it! Suddenly I seemed to be running out of excuses, and a holiday to Queenstown, NZ was planned around this idea.

Often I reflect on the experience and what I can take from it, how can I harness both the fear and the excitement, and channel it into my business and my life?

What did I learn?

• Fear and excitement are so closely linked that it can be difficult to know which one you are feeling! However, focusing on excitement and the positive possibilities of doing something new will enable you to keep moving forward rather than freezing with fear.
• I have a tendency to clam up and go quiet when I am scared, and looking after someone else can take my focus off me and away from my discomfort. For all of us focusing on the people we serve can shift the fear, for example focusing on what you want your audience to learn redirects your energy around public speaking.
• Teenagers are more wired for risk than their parents (which can get them in all sorts of trouble!) Most of the girls' friends, when told we were going skydiving, said "wow that's cool", whereas most of my friends said, "oh my god, that sounds terrifying". As we get older we need to keep reminding ourselves to do something new and scary so that we keep growing.
• Everyone processes experiences and fear differently - one daughter was beside herself with excitement and one was much more scared - and interestingly when we went white water rafting 2 days later the roles were reversed. So never dismiss or diminish another person's anxieties, you have not lived their life.
• We often forget what we have previously achieved or diminish its value: as we went up in the plane I told myself that if you can push out two babies you can do this! And not just giving birth because raising teenagers must be one of the hardest jobs in the world!
• That also led to the realisation that I have seriously neglected reflection in my past. I have done many things which pushed me out of my comfort zone physically (snowboarding, canyoning, performing, public speaking, emigrating to Australia) and yet I have not usually translated that into new perspectives for my work. I have tended to do them and then move without more thought.
• I have always maintained that I would rather do a skydive than a bungee jump, however later in the week I realised that I no longer felt so fearful of the bungee, and it dawned on me that I could do it (my budget didn't think so, however!), my perception of the fear had definitely shifted.
• The world is a very beautiful place and sometimes seeing it from a new vantage point can shift absolutely how you feel about a person, place or event - the whole week in Queenstown reminded me of the importance of being out in nature and how that grounding can help you put work back in perspective.

So what now?

So what did all this mean for me?

The scariest moment in skydiving is that moment when you have to let go, and drop into the unknown, and so it is in life.?

We can do all the planning and preparation in the world and yet there is always something we have to let go off in order to move forward.?

We can visualise and seek clarity about what we are stepping into and yet there is always an element of the unknown, there is always uncertainty in that next venture, role or relationship.?

We have to trust that we have done the work and we have to let ourselves fall "for I will be caught by who I am becoming" (from Let Me Fall by Josh Groban - thank you to my teacher David Drake for sharing this wonderful lyric with me)

For me in 2020 after I did this brave act it meant stepping away from my identity and role and safety net as a CFO and working full time on building my coaching practice.?

I am hugely passionate about supporting professionals to be courageous and compassionate leaders leading purpose driven organisations, and having a much larger impact in the world by creating a ripple effect out from those whole-hearted leaders.

And whenever I am scared I shall remind myself that I once started a year by jumping out of a plane!!

What will you do in the remaining months of 2022 that scares you?

Maybe it is time to drop into the unknown and start your coaching journey. If you’re ready to make the leap then reach out to me and let’s have a conversation about how it could be the leap you need to make to move forward.?

Sue