Leap of Faith
She looked into the eyes of the beast and it stared back, unmoving and indifferent. To come out on top meant risking a hard fall or, even more worryingly, the skin on her shins. Sounds pretty diabolical right? Luckily our heroine stood her ground and contemplated attack.
The notion of jumping onto a waist-high platform with no prior experience is not for the faint of heart. But as she eyed the danger slab, she knew that a calculated approach would see her through. So first thing’s first, what did she already know? She knew how to JUMP! Visualizing her victory, she imagined bending at her hips, knees and ankles while swinging her arms back, and then EXPLODING back in the opposite direction as hard as possible. But did a hard a jump mean that she could actually make it? What else could she find out? Next she stood beside the platform. If she could jump at least as high as the landing height, then she could most likely make it to the top when the real deal came around. So she went for it, getting a as high as possible. It was close. It made her slightly more confident but she was still unsure.
As a final preparation she looked for what help she could get from others. Asking a coach to confirm that she was jumping high enough. Confirmation from the coach let her know that she was ready, and yet the monster remained.
It can be paralyzing when we must take a big leap of faith. Whether stepping into a new environment, changing teams, trying a new position, or even trusting our teammates on the field, fear of the unknown can keep us from taking on new challenges. It wouldn’t be called a “leap of faith” if we knew the outcome. We must remember that changes like these bring about growth, but that doesn’t always help when these pivotal moments arrive. What will is asking the right questions: What do I already know? What else can I find out? What help can I get from someone experienced?
No leap of faith comes with complete certainty, but the more we can understand the nature of the change ahead, the more confidently we can embrace it. And at that point that we understand, all that’s left to do is jump.
So she did.
“Wow”, she said. “I did it!”