Last Will and Testament

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.   Dorothy Thompson

While I'm sure there's a lot of truth in that, I'm going to pass on one fear - sky diving.  Imminent death my emotional self screeches and thoughts of Last Wills and Testaments come to the forefront.  There's a nice ring to that phrase, Last Will and Testament - don't you think?  And I agree that drafting a will is practical but anything coming close to truly needing a will - not for me, not yet.  I'll pass.  So why did I pick sky diving?


A good friend just did that - sky dived - jumped from a plane thousands of feet above the earth.   She hinted at drafting a will before hand but I think, hope - she was kidding.  Although she admits no fear of heights, I have to say if jumping from a plane attached only to another human and a few meters of cloth isn't life changing I don't know what is.  It is definitely courageous.  She took the dive over Hawaii and from the expression on her face - I'm sensing the truth in the quote  Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.. 

We create paths in our lives, familiar habits that we tread over and over that allow us to avoid our fears.  Whether facing our fears means, moving or just getting out and traveling, speaking to the homeless man on the corner or falling from an airplane, not facing fears keeps us stuck in the familiar spaces we build for ourselves.  Safety zones that we have to break if we want to grow.  So here's the challenge - break one habit and see if it wasn't protecting you from a fear.


Every time I put a story out into the world for others to read - there's a fear - what if they don't like it.  They is many people, some with faces, some people I will never meet or have yet to meet.  They is everybody and anybody but if I listened to that fear I would never succeed.  So despite the fear I do it anyway. 



Life is full of changes, big and little.  We can follow the tried and true or we can deviate just a bit or maybe your turn will take you straight off the map.  Give it a shot - tomorrow try something new, something you've never done before, something that you're just a little afraid of.  

So, while I will never sky dive - yes, you read it, never -  I took that true life story of sky-diving and turned it into a story of my own.  I played on my fear of heights = death and the result has a role in a short story that  will  appear in the May issue of my newsletter The Walkabout, due out shortly. 

Oh and in case you're much braver than me and sky diving has intrigued you get out that pen, fill out your Last Will and Testament and go forth - okay, maybe not so dire but there's a whole wad of interesting information right here.


So what fear big or small, stopped you lately?  


Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ryshia on Twitter

BTW - there's more to the sky diving story to come.  And it's quite the story, I'll be posting it during the next few days.