The View for this first week of February comes from one of my best friends.
I have known Jessica for 10 years. She lives just 2 miles away from me.
She is actually responsible for me starting to blog.
It was her suggestion that led me to set this space up almost four years ago.
Jess has a blog too, the title of which I love: Anything But, and Then Some.
Her blogging has been inconsistent over the years, but it is my hope that
doing this post for me might help reboot her writing.
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Choose to Fly
Flying or falling?
Can any of us really tell? Can you say right now, for absolute certainty that this woman is flying. Sure she looks confident, at peace, and even in control, but change your perspective just a little…
And suddenly, she’s falling. She’s not even fighting, she’s completely given up, letting gravity pull her to whatever lies below.
Of course, it isn’t just perception that causes us to soar through the clouds or fall to the ground. It is life, the breaths we take, the roles we play, and the people we surround ourselves with. It is challenge and hardship, perfection and peace. It is love and loss and everything in between.
We are all either flying to the hope and love that lies ahead, burning through the darkness toward a destination that may not always be easy to get to, but worth the travel it takes to get there…
OR…
We are falling to the loss, the lies and the anger that we hold onto, caring not for where we are going, but only for where we have been and the darkness we found along the way.
Flying or falling is a choice we make, not just daily, but sometimes moment to moment. The ability to keep yourself off the ground and forward moving isn’t easy… EVER. It’s a constant struggle to choose to breathe it in and let it go, live with love, light and joy. It is the balance of grace and humility, self-recognition and awareness. It is learning from your mistakes, owning your choices, and making right what you have put wrong. It is allowing yourself to love and be loved. It is letting people past your walls and making the effort to knock on the walls of others. It is saying what you need and what you want.
I choose to fly. I have to. I fell once, twice… More times than I can count. I fell hard and fast sometimes, unable to even see the point I stopped flying. Other times I fell slowly, aware I was on my way down, but not all that willing to fight my way back up. Falling seemed less like a choice I was making and more like a position I had been put in. As if someone had pushed me or forced me. I fell with intention sometimes, thinking it was the only way people would see me. In the end, people just left me behind, shrugging their shoulders and shaking their heads as they soared higher and higher until they were gone and I was really left alone, like I thought I wanted… But it wasn’t what I wanted at all.
It felt impossible to fly again, but what was really impossible was to keep on falling. So I pushed my way up, and I keep doing it every day. I choose to soar through those clouds and leave that darkness behind me, not forgetting it, but no longer holding onto it. Constantly learning from my actions and my words, reaching out to others, saying how I feel or what I need and listening along the way. I earn what I want and give what others need.
I’m not perfect, certainly. I fall sometimes, still and always, but I’ve learned something. Falling doesn’t mean failure, it doesn’t mean giving up. It isn’t your fall that matters, it’s whether you get back up. It’s how hard you fight to fly. It’s asking for help, reaching out, and pushing past the feeling that those who are flying don’t care about those who are falling. It’s not bringing others down with you, but allowing them to lift you up. Falling doesn’t have to be how you live, but a moment in your life. You can learn how to fall just like you learned how to fly.
Today I chose to fly. Tomorrow I will have that choice ahead of me again. My perception, my destination, and my life will never be easy, but I will always try to keep flying. I hope those I love make the same choices, but I can’t force them and I certainly can’t carry them. All I can do is love them, whether they are flying close or falling away.
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This is pretty great, right?
One big thing Jess and I have in common is that she sees life as a journey.
Like me, she knows that we are put on this planet to learn and grow and become.
Wanna get to know her better? You can connect with Jess at her:
**If you are interested in contributing YOUR View, please go HERE**
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