Parachutes and Potential

I think our talents and potential are a lot like parachutes. They don’t work until we jump. The resistance in the free fall itself is what makes the parachute function. Without it, the chute won’t open up or deploy.

Too often, we sit in the inside the fuselage of our comfort zone and look out at the world below, waiting for that elusive, “right moment,” that will probably never come. We want the parachute to open immediately so we don’t have to endure the disruption of the initial plunge into the unknown. It simply doesn’t work that way.

If the chute opens within the plane, it becomes a tangled mess, tethering the jumper all the more to the aircraft. If your talents and potential blossomed inside your comfort zone, you would never fully realize what they are capable of and find yourself restrained from jumping even more. Just as the resistance of the air forces the chute to fully expand, allowing it to perform, so the resistance we experience after the leap develops and expands our talents and abilities.

We must experience the full magnitude of the fall. The leap must be significant enough, the risk great enough, and the resistance strong enough to release our potential. So why jump from a perfectly comfortable aircraft? For one, the plane is too crowded, for two, the rush is exhilarating, but the main reason, it’s the only way you’ll ever see what your parachute can do.

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