Taking Chances

I always felt like I had my own ideas and I was doing my own thing but I wasn’t always so different.  I actually was a follower most of the time.  I just happened to pick and choose what I was going to do differently based on what made sense to me. I was never one to follow the norm simply because it was the norm. 

The stereotypical question that moms use to test their children is, “If your friend jumped off a bridge would you”.  For me the answer is absolutely, as long as it is going to be fun.

The summer between my junior and senior years in high school I went boating with 3 friends in one of my friend’s dad’s boat.  It was a hot summer day and we were just out cruising the lake having fun and being high school kids.  We sipped a couple of beers, talked about girls, and then started looking for something more exciting.

There is a large bridge over Saylorville Lake, near Des Moines, Iowa, known as the Mile Long Bridge for obvious reasons.  The bridge allows traffic to cross the lake from the east and west.  I knew this bridge very well since I had crossed it many times with my family while traveling to my grandmother’s house.

We started joking about jumping off the bridge.  It was about a 60 foot fall and definitely something that looked like a blast but also very scary.  We drove the boat under the bridge and turned on the fish finder to troll around the area.  We discovered that the water was around 25 feet deep in the middle part of the bridge.  This seemed to be plenty deep for a thrilling jump. 

I started talking a lot of smack about how we had to do it.  I was actually expecting that nobody would call my bluff.  One of my friends said, “Let’s do it”.  The boat driver took us to the edge of the lake and we jumped out and swam to shore. I still wasn’t sure that I wanted to do this but I was expecting the other guy to call it off. 

Soon we had worked our way up the rocky embankment filled with bowling ball sized or larger white rock and we were walking on the road.  As we started walking out on the bridge against traffic I realized that I was actually going to do it.  The cool breeze on the bridge was so refreshing on this hot 90 degree day but the cars zooming past us seemed to be a reminder that we were headed out to somewhere we were not supposed to be.

We reached the middle of the bridge and looked over the edge.  I could barely hear my two friends in the boat screaming and yelling encouragement at us from 60 feet below.  I looked at the cold choppy water and wondered what I had gotten myself into.  My fearless companion at my side could sense the fear that was coming over me.  He said, “Well there is only one way down from here”.  I knew he was right.  Walking a half mile down the bridge then down the loose rock just to reach the freezing cold water would be torturous enough even without the teasing I was sure to get from all three of my friends after my loud mouth had made such a big deal about how we had to do this.

I sat on the railing with my feet dangling over the edge.  I knew it was deep enough and shouldn’t be dangerous as long as I went in straight like a toothpick.  But damn, fear is something else.  As I sat there frozen not knowing what to do, I decided that I was not going to let fear control me.  I didn’t want to be afraid to do things that would be fun and exciting.  I knew that most people would be afraid to ever attempt such a crazy jump, but why?  It wasn’t all that dangerous since we knew there were no rocks and the water was plenty deep.  I decided that the thrill of the jump was worth letting go of my tight grip to safety on the railing of the bridge.

I scooted by butt off the edge and felt a very brief moment of free fall.  With my heart pounding and my body straight as a board I crashed into the cold water.  I’m not sure how deep I went but I remember doing a few strokes trying to swim back to the surface.  When my head finally popped up out of the water I took a huge deep breath and began laughing my ass off.  I did it.  I had concurred fear that day.  I let my worries rest and took a leap of faith.  Not only did I survive, but had enjoyed it very much. 

We had turned this average summer day into a day that none of the four of us would ever forget.  I felt truly alive and had no regrets.

I have thought back to this moment many times in my life. It is very symbolic to me. Many people choose to hang on to that railing and never experience truly living life. Whether your safety rail is a dead end job, an abusive relationship, or anything else that is holding you back from true happiness; take that leap. You will not regret it.

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tags: freedom, inspiration, Live Life, motivation, Take Chances

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 7:35 am and is filed under Take life in your own hands, The Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.