hesitation

I recently watched a friend bungee jump.

It was an interesting experience, let me tell you the story . .

There was one woman ahead of our friend, so we all stood by on the bridge and watched. This woman was all geared up and ready to go. She stepped out onto the platform and looked down at the rushing river below. Then she made the worst mistake. She hesitated.

From there on in it was a downward spiral of doubt, fear and downright freaking out. You could see the thoughts processing through her mind, then physically manifest in her body. She turned white, tears started rolling down her cheeks. All of the coaxing, cheering and positive talk in the world couldn’t get her to jump. There was no way in hell she was leaping off that bridge. She eventually came back off the platform, it wasn’t her day to jump.

Our friend was up next. I had butterflies in my stomach, what a nerve-wracking build up. But she wasn’t fazed. She didn’t let fear or doubt enter her mind. She knew what she came to do. She had come to jump.

She stepped out onto the platform, took one look down and leaped head first off the bridge with the ease and grace of a diver into a swimming pool.

Her life motto?

“hesitation is devastation” 

How fitting.

What an incredible display of mind over matter to witness. Watching these two totally opposing experiences. The only difference between them? One person hesitated. One let her mind stray and entertain her negative thoughts. And one stuck to her guns, with an unwavering conviction.

It got me thinking – when have I hesitated and missed out on an incredible experience? When have I psyched myself out of something because of fear?

My fear may not be as obvious as bungee jumping, but perhaps more subtle hesitations around being out of my comfort zone, fear of embarrassment or rejection, fear of failure, or worse – fear of success?

These things may be subtle to the eye, but they have a far more devastating effect on us in the long run.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
― Neale Donald Walsch

What do you hesitate with?

It may seem huge, it may be seem trivial. Your fear is real regardless – but feel the fear and do it anyway! So go book that sky-dive, chat to the cute stranger, apply for your dream job, sign up for that half-marathon, declare your love to someone . . . Whatever it is, just don’t hesitate.

Growth is on the other side of fear.