Here I am, strapped to a parachute and tucked into an instructor's harness standing at the edge of an open airplane door 10,000 feet above the ground. I have endured several hours of training and signed what feels like a ream of paper acknowledging that I could die by the end of the day. The instructor says “ready?” My adrenaline surges. My stomach drops. I am terrified.
Here’s the thing: I’ve never jumped out of a plane. But I can imagine exactly how I would feel at that moment, staring out of the open airplane door. I can feel the flood of cortisol and the terror that would sweep through my body. The idea of jumping out of a plane doesn’t make me feel empowered or free or limitless. It just makes me feel terrified.
But skiing down a steep, groomed Colorado mountain on a beautiful spring day? Crafting a piece of writing that I believe might impact someone for the better? Swimming in the ocean or taking a long, long, long walk someplace I’ve never been? Doing one more pull-up than I did last week. Those things make me feel limitless.
Living limitless is not about taking risks, though often there are risks in choosing to live without limits. But the risks are not the point. Rather, it is the knowledge, the deep and true knowledge, that you have the power to make choices, that there are no limits to how much you can learn, how far you can go and how fully you can embrace your life. That, my friends, is living without limits.
For some of us, living limitless requires that we cast aside other people’s expectations to embrace our unique voice and true path. Sometimes, we do need to stare fear squarely in the face and say “thank you, fear, for trying to look out for me, but I’m going to do this anyway.”
I want adventures and experiences. I want to keep learning new things, reading new books, and meeting new people. I want to build a community and a company that flourishes. I want to ski in the sunshine and swim in the ocean. I want plenty of time to hang out and travel with my family. I want countless long walks on my favorite, well-worn trails and in places I’ve never been before. I want to live limitless.
But I don’t want to jump out of a plane.
What does your limitless life look like?
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