Take Your Life Jacket Off!

I love to travel with my cousin. She tends to get me to do the craziest things, but it always turns out fun. We’ve been parasailing, zip lining into waterfalls, and snorkeling on a coral reef. The time we went snorkeling in Cancun, I was so scared for some reason (sharks mainly). When we got out to the area where we would be snorkeling, the man on the boat said “jump in.” I looked at him like he was crazy and asked if there a ladder to ease in or what. He said no and had to almost push me off the darn boat. He said it wouldn’t be bad because I had on a life jacket. I took the plunge, literally and screamed as I went into the ocean. It was amazing! I was having the time of my life “swimming” around with my life jacket on. I looked around and saw a guy who decided to take off his life jacket because he wanted to get a good look at what was under the water. He was diving, backstroking, taking great pictures, and had a lot more freedom than the rest of us scary cats. Now I can swim, but the big blue ocean didn’t seem like the place for an intermediate swimmer to be playing around. But I envied the man so much I thought (for one hot second) of taking mine off. Common sense brought me back to reality. I say all of this to say if you want to enjoy life, you have to take off your life jacket. Before you can get comfortable with doing so, you need to have some “swim lessons” or life lessons that make you comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone. Comfort zones create complacency and in turn create stagnancy or feeling stuck. The man felt safe swimming in an ocean because he had a lot of practice in a small pool. You have to start somewhere and most times you have to start small. He was able to enjoy things that we were not because he had more freedom without a life jacket. I even dropped my phone and was bound by my jacket, which kept me from being able to dive and get it. I want to be able to get what’s mine! The man had to get it for me because I was restricted. In life, being restricted can be frustrating, especially when others are having fun and you cannot. With all of the things to see in the world, I want to experience as much as I can without anything holding me back. It’s time for some diving lessons!