Dive into the New Year?

One of the most exciting choices to make in the New Year is to dive into life instead of watching and waiting for life to happen. New Year’s Eve I took a group of kids and teens to a place called ‘DivenFlip’. I decided to do something active and engaging with our group instead of watching a movie. It is always interesting to see how different people respond to opportunities to live outside their box or comfort zone. One of the first things that jumped out at everyone as they walked into this gym play zone was the chance to be attached to bungee cords and bounce to the top of this tall building and do flips.

They purposely had this first as you walked into the trampoline area instead of having it hidden. This was an excellent choice to engage everyone regardless of whether you were tall, short, skinny or more rotund. I know in the New Year it is so easy to make grandiose goals or resolutions. Most of us aren’t going to save a million or lose a hundred pounds but at least we can go after life in a way that it could happen. It is so unfortunate that too often we allow the voices around us to curtail our adventurous side in experimenting with new things.  If you have always been told that you are a klutz then most likely you aren’t going to take a risk to do something totally crazy.

My dream for the New Year is to be both adventurous and consistent in making better life choices that impact my life and the lives of those around me. Yes, I want to be better at budgeting and exercise. Most think I’m crazy when I say that I’m going to run a marathon this year, which requires the determination to run today and not just talk about it. (I have run 7 marathons but those are in the past not today.) I also want to seriously begin to learn how to speak Spanish. There isn’t any quick way to do this either besides committing a portion of time each day to learn and most of all practice speaking.

Yes it true that sometimes diving head first into an unknown area can be life threatening! We go to Slide Rock Park that is close to Sedona every year. It is a natural waterslide in the granite that has water temps in the 50’s. The biggest challenge is that there are a few places where you can jump off cliffs into shallow pools. The question is whether it is wise to ever jump head first into any pool where you can’t see the bottom. Each year I have this fear of someone diving, not jumping and end up in the ER with a broken neck.

As most know by the second or third week of January resolutions and goals have been thrown to the wayside. I know the choice to get up at 4am, yes 4am to run isn’t an easy one to do. Yet, as I do it more and more it becomes part of my routine. What is important as we have the opportunity to dive into the New Year is to choose at least one thing that is adventurous to do that you haven’t done before and also choose to do something that is ordinary in an extraordinary fashion.