How to Find Comfort in the Free Fall That is Life
By Kristin Deiss
Life is one big unknown, but that fact doesn’t have to generate negative energy and emotions. Read the article below to learn how to find comfort in the free fall that is life!
Ever jump into something and get that instant rush of adrenaline mixed with both fear and excitement?
Perhaps you jumped out of a plane. (Kudos to you by the way if you have – that’s amazing).
Perhaps you jumped into the deep end of the pool without your floaties on.
Or perhaps you jumped into a new opportunity that scared the bejesus out of you.
Jumping into anything feels much the same way- potentially dangerous, but certainly exciting. And because those first moments are spent having no idea what awaits us at the end of our jump, at the end of our fall, we start feeling a whole host of energetic emotions: anxiety, fear, regret, anger, etc. The list goes on and on.
But does that fall into the unknown have to be unpleasant?
On the whole, most of us expend way more energy than is needed or beneficial by worrying about or obsessing over our perceived problems, and in a world where sleep is a commodity and unhelpful energies are floating all around us, it’s important to learn how to generate and best use our own energy so that we can enjoy this crazy thing called life.
The first step to doing so is to better understand the things we have control over.
The second step? To release our need to control the things we can’t.
Maybe then, we can all hold onto our sanity a bit tighter and find that we don’t need to wear that metal armor of steel or to chug that fourth espresso of the day. Perhaps we can just settle in and enjoy the freedom in the fall.
I’m reminded of a quote I came across years ago:
“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there’s no ground.”
The Buddhist meditation teacher Chögyam Trungpa spoke those words in an effort to alleviate fears and worries about life. Although, I gotta be honest with you, the first time I read that I thought, “Great. I’d almost rather hit the ground and splat then continue to free fall without an end in sight.”
I had that thought for a good 48 hours before the words popped into my head again, but this time I understood them and their implications differently. Instead of seeing the fall as a constant plunge into despair, I began to see the fall as an adrenaline pumping, heart racing, dare devil dive into the unknown. And precisely because there is no ground, it really is a dive into the unknown— there is no way of knowing what awaits, if anything, at the so called “end” of the plummet.
But that’s not important.
The end, the destination, the goal, the top of the mountain, the “I’d like to thank the Academy” speech should not dictate why we do the things we do. The fall, the experience, the rush of blood to our cheeks, the thrill of life should be dictating our decisions and choices.
It’s quite remarkable when you begin to think of all living beings as dare devil adrenaline junkies, jumping out of planes without parachutes, not knowing what it is that we’re falling towards.
And the best part?
We didn’t even realize that’s what we had signed up for.
And the next best part?
Most of us STILL don’t realize it and fail to recognize our part in this fall that we call life.
I am certainly not exempt from this either, although I like to think that I go back and forth from wishing there was a ground to end my fall to hollering and whooping at the top of my lungs as the wind rushes past my face (hopefully resting in the latter more so than the former).
Better yet, what’s incredible about all of this is our ability to choose how we wish to view and experience that free fall. In our darkest moments, it’s imperative to remember that while we may not have anything to grasp onto, to pull us up, to “save” us, we actually don’t need anything to grasp onto because there is nothing to be pulled up from.
We don’t need to be saved from anything, because there is no ground. There is no end, only now.
And we better learn to become comfortable in this now, in this fall into the unknown, because it looks like we’ll be stuck here for a while.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather my memories of this fall be good ones, so I’m gonna start practicing my smile now, even if the wind feels like it’s blowing the skin off my face and I have no idea what I may be falling into. At least I’ll be free, free falling.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to some Tom Petty.
How do you find comfort in the fall? I’d love to hear from you! Share by dropping a comment below!
Christine Peterson
THANK YOU!