I recently ran off a cliff strapped to a man I just met. And it was the best thing I’ve done in a really long time.
I tend to hold things pretty tight.
My life radically changed with my husband’s cancer diagnosis and then his death. In the 5 years since, trying to be the same person and realizing I’m just not that girl anymore. Leaving a profession that no longer served my values. Raising three kids solo and making it up as I go along. I hang onto things that I know with that false sense of if I clutch at it, then it’ll stay the same.
Which is why I’m easing my grip. On my work, parenting, expectations to get it all right.
And why I found myself at the top of a very steep hill surrounded by the Swiss Alps and a lovely Italian man named Dario behind me with a paraglider who hollered “Run NOW!”
Before I could look where my kids were or if I should double check everything and if this truly was a good idea, I started to run. And the wind picked us up, my feet no longer on the ground and then we soared to the sky, the sun, the mountains.
I laughed and hooted and laughed, then cried. I was being carried and guided by the wind, upwards to 5,000 feet above the ground. No control on my part, just trusting a guy and letting go.
Somewhere over the Alps I loosened the grip a little bit more. A process, that finally feels right.
