Do you have a back up plan lurking somewhere?
Is it propping you up?
Is it standing by your side, stroking your brow?
You can almost hear it whispering a creeping sleepiness that causes your ambition to get all snoozy and want to crawl back to bed and snuggle under the blankets.
You get comfortable. You stretch and yawn and pat your inflatable life raft reassuringly.
Yup, still full of air.
And so you drift off to sleep.
But listen!
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss…….
How do you expect to face the giant swells ahead of you in a life raft with a slow leak?
Your back up plan isn’t designed to hold your purpose.
It can’t possibly contain those wriggly, restless passions that keep you awake at night, snoring in your ear, stealing away that comfy blanket and squatting beligerently on your chest.
Your purpose needs ballast. Something weighty with a solid platform. How do you expect to surf tall and straight on a flaccid fall back that has had most of the air sucked out of it?
Your purpose wants room to accommodate others, those you can serve, inspire and encourage. How could you ever hope to shift them, move them, transport them, when your safe little boat has barely enough room in it for you?
No. You want to cross an ocean? You need a ship!
Never rely on your back up plan to house the monster that is the thing that you really want to do.
Because even if you hit that iceberg and go down in a watery blaze of glory, that little life boat will only get you so far. It may prevent you from freezing over in despair. It might rescue you from suffocating from failure.
But it sure as hell isn’t going to be enough to support the journey you really want to take. That you must make.
Are you clinging to your back up plan? Or are you focused on launching, maintaining, repairing and clinging deliriously to your ship?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m living my backup plan – Noosa instead of Costa Rica! But I think that’s because it should have been my plan a to begin with…
Definitely agree it’s not good to dwell on what you’ll do if you fail. You’ve just got to go for things 100%. If they don’t turn out as expected something else will take shape.
It is synchronistic how your post should be about clinging to thoughts intended to bring security — something with which I have a LOT of experience — and how I’m going through a shift in perception that is just like what you’re talking about.
Synchronicity is soooo affirming!
The interesting thing is how Going For It All the Way thoughts and actions actually bring me a lot more security than Back-Up Plan thoughts. Wish I’d known at the outset how good, how safe it would feel. Maybe I wouldn’t have dragged my heels so long!
Thanks, Natalie. As always, get so much from your thoughtful posts!
Jeanne
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