Are You Ready To Take A Running Jump?

I wonder…
When was the last time you felt completely helpless?
You know. Impotent.
Unable to lift a hand to help.
Sans power or control.
Sans the ability to breathe.
(I love this French language, don’t you?)

Well, allow me to share one of those moments with you.

It was watching a video of our eldest daughter, Lauren.
Well, at least I think it was her.
Whoever it was, the figure looked awfully tiny to me.
A miniscule dark shape against a bright white sky.
So, I have to take Wendy’s word for it.
”That’s Our Girlie There, That Is.”

“Yeah. So?
She’s standing on a bridge/platform thing.
And?
What am I supposed to be looking at?”

Then I dug my nails into something (Wendy’s hand?)…
…when this tiny dot was seen, by me, to be throwing itself off this bridge thing.
Throwing itself into the horrendous, cavernous, unforgiving space carved by this bottomless gorge thing.
Fundamentally into Nothingness.
Into a place where people don’t live. Well, not that long.

I couldn’t compute the madness of what I was seeing.
So, Wendy whispered to me to close my mouth.
And explained to my paralysed senses:

“She’s diving off one of the highest bungee jumps in the world.”
(New Zealand, was it?)

I thought I was going to be sick. Really.)
”My Girlie!”
Wheeeeeeeeeeee…
Kaboinnnnnggggggg….

(Of course, she’s anything but My Girlie now.
And has a Cherub of her own.)

I’ve come to believe our children don’t just do these things
They do these things to us.
You know, just to prove that they’re completely free to fly without us.
Perhaps, just to show that they can do things that we didn’t ever have ‘the bottle’ to attempt.

They may have a point there.

Yet, I wonder if they realise that running a business sometimes feels like that.
(To be honest, starting to write each week’s Blog can sometimes feel as scary as that)

When we feel like we’re spinning hopelessly out of control.
Unaccustomed forces hitting us like a tsunami.
Wiping our legs from under us; just when we’re gasping for breath after the last wave.

I’ve felt that in my life.
I believe you have too.
You’d be forgiven if this Summer felt like that at times.

It’s at such times that our capacity to ‘steer the ship’ is severely tested.
Our capacity to lead people through seas that feel like white water rapids or liquid boiling mountains.
To get them to leap with us into spaces with no satnav.
Skilled Leadership.
A quality far more rare than common.

Which is why authors like Brene Brown use titles like ‘Dare To Lead’
And why the subheading of my recent book suggests that is written for those who ‘Dare To Soar’.

I’ve been blessed with such leaders in my life.
In both my business and my spiritual life.

Leaders who have given me the courage to leap into the wide expanse of The Terrifying Unknown.
Leaders who have shown me how I can change…
(and must change, if I’m to help others rise to become their greatest selves.)

But only because they’ve shown me…
“Look. This Is How We Do This.
This Is How We Dare To Soar At Such Times.”

Maybe Lauren is such a leader.
Maybe you are too.
Maybe, together, we can say to others.
”Come. Dare To Soar With Me.”