Jump now, figure out how to land later.

Some of you might have read my BREATHE post on how I personally reduce my stress and how I deal with panic, hoping it would help others.
On today’s post I’d like to dive in to how I generally approach things in life.

A bit of a background

I used to be extremely cautious as a child. Trying to think every move through, trying to consider all possible events and consequences (no matter how unlikely, as example: Putting your towel and stuff 10m higher on the beach than the rest of your group, just in case you aren’t paying attention when the tide rises).
If done well this gives you quite the safe life , with only a small amount of things that go wrong (after all most of us can’t look into the future and prevent everything). A way of life that is shared by many these days. But to some, mostly those that deep down have a more adventurous spirit, a safe life quickly starts resembling a boring life.
Hardly taking risks and those risks that you do take are thought trough to such a degree that risks are minimal.
Not going to parties because “what if it sucks? You don’t like half of the people there, it’s one hell of a bike ride back and forth”
Not asking the girl out that you like because first you want to know her better and want to ask her out at the perfect opportunity.
Not taking that holiday trip because “What if you need that money for something important later”.
Skateboarding with your friends? Well… it looks incredibly fun… but I’ll only do it with 20 layers of padding and protection.
And so on.

The switch

At a certain point in life I too decided that this was no way to live…
For me living this way was not living… So, I designed the “Fuck it” flag, (No not metaphorically, a genuine physical fuck it flag) sadly I never took pictures of it but I’m sure the description explains enough. It was a flag and it said “Fuck it” not really a concept that needs any visual aid.
For years that had been the flag I was waiving.
I went from a safe life to quite the reckless life. I did things my way and if something happened well “Fuck it” someone else will deal with it. This lowered the bar for trying new things tremendously.
When I started to reason with myself and overthink situations I just took a minute and told myself “Fuck it” and went for it.
My life changed and became fun, living conscience free, chaotic, rebellious, never facing the consequences.

Chaos prevailed.

Growing up

But saying fuck it is only part of the solution… as consequences are still a real thing and at some point will be unavoidable especially living a slightly more reckless life.

At some point you realize you have to grow up… well… at least a bit.

I did not want to go back to my old life again of thinking too much and holding myself back. This had been the subject of many conversation with a good friend of mine. We always tend to be on the same wave length when talking. She told me ”You would never be happy without chaos in your life” and I am sad to say that I feel that she is right.
I thrive in chaos, that’s when all the excitement starts… Yes I am quite the logical thinker, and yes many consequences can be considered and solved by thinking of them ahead of time playing it safe and all that.
But where is the rush in that? Where is the challenge?

The real challenge comes from being put on the spot, having to come up with something a la minute. Got yourself into deep shit? Need to get out of it before it get worse? Well better start thinking boy cause this is going sideways quickly… Now THAT is a challenging rush!
That keeps you on your toes and your brain running.

Jump first

To start combining best of both worlds (chaos, yet dealing with consequences) I started to just jump in to the dark and figure out how to deal with the consequences on the way down.

This obviously still caries quite a lot of risk, as there is no guarantee you’ll figure something out before you hit the ground. Hell… you might faceplant into concreate fok fast, or you might only find a way to slightly slow your descent but still break your leg during the landing.
But in the end that is part of the fun and exitement, all in the mentality of no guts no glory.
As can be read in my previous post Return of the wolv I’ve started to live my life with that motto more and more. Got a job offer in a foreign continent where everything is worse and where you know no one and nothing… well let’s jump and we’ll figure it all out when we get there.
A nice holiday to Bali with friends low on funds? Let’s do this, there are plenty ways of making money you’ll earn it back.
Like a girl? Ask her out, that’s better than finding out later that she was interested back then. She says no? Well at least you know and can focus on other things, no harm done.

I can honestly say even after a lot of bad landings… My life has become more fun. The more I stick to te motto the more fun it is. I most certainly will end up heavily scarred…. But every scar will have a story.

Are you jumping with me?

Let me know

🐺 @wolv