‘Leap and the net will appear’
But… you have to be prepared to leap! I heard this phrase for the first time recently in a networking group and I was drawn to it immediately.
What did I really think about this?
Isn’t it better to have a safety harness just in case?!
But equally, what happens if you don’t ever leap?
What does a leap of faith in yourself mean?
I’m not really a ‘leapy’ kind of person – skydiving, bungee jumping… no thank you! I’m not really talking about those kinds of leaps today luckily because I wouldn’t have much to say!
Fortunately I mean a leap of faith – and I think what I’ve concluded is that this ultimately means a leap of faith in yourself.
Do you trust in your capabilities, and maybe in the universe too, that you will be ok? Now, that’s a big question!
The things is, as I’ve said before but always find myself having to be reminded, we just don’t know how things will turn out for definite, even if we have hopes, ideas, expectations and predictions. And this will always be the way, purely because the future is yet to happen and we can only really experience and respond to the present.
That’s not to say don’t ever bother researching or looking into the thing that you want to take a ‘leap of faith’ into as that could well just be foolhardy. But after all that, you still have to be prepared to take the leap and see where you go!
Moving home, having a baby, changing careers – all these things actually do require something of a leap of faith - maybe our view of how much of a ‘leap’ it actually is, is directly proportionate to our appetite for risk!
Can anyone take a leap of faith in themselves?
As you may have gathered, I’m probably what most people would consider to be quite a risk adverse person. If I’m going to leap anywhere, I’ll suss out my likely landing position, how I intend to manage it, research it a lot, think about it a lot, but I’ll want to have a backup option (parachute), and probably a plan B (harness) too! Then I’ll leap!
And at this stage, what you really have is hope for the best, and a need to trust yourself.
My biggest leap was probably my leap into parenthood (it didn’t quite go as planned to begin with!), followed by some years later changing my career and moving to Devon from London. You can read about my experience with coaching helping me to make these big changes here.
So, are you prepared to take a leap of faith in yourself, or have you already? One of my favourite quotes is from Jim Carrey:
‘You can fail at want you don’t want so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.’
I don’t share this quote to be idealistic – but as something to keep in mind for any area of our lives that we’d like to look and feel a bit different – to be more of something that we do love.
For many of us, underneath a whole heap of external weight, pressure of expectation, social media influence, conditioning, we can lose sight of this.
But I really do believe that we can all lead happier lives by accessing what we deep down already have and know (internally) – it might just need help to break through that exterior shell. This is when the leap of faith comes into its own – because only you can make this possible.
How to be bold and take that leap of faith in yourself
What’s required for a leap of faith (all planning and mapping out of possibilities aside!) is confidence and trust in ourselves. And that can feel lacking sometimes.
Confidence is something that is actually innate, but we can cultivate it too, through courage.
If this feels like something difficult for you to negotiate right now, but you know that deep down you want to take a leap of faith in yourself, please do get in touch!
It’s my honest belief that we are all more capable, resourceful and creative than we give ourselves credit for – and if we reflect there are probably times when we’ve been under pressure unexpectedly and those attributes have shown themselves.
They are still there, we just need to keep giving them the chance to serve us well again, and to hold out the net for us. Get in touch to see how I can support you with taking your next leap of faith in you - kathryn@kbmindfulcoaching.com
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