I’ve been pushing myself to see life through a different set of lenses. This isn’t because I don’t live a great life, because I do. This is simply because I want to grab all the joy I can harvest and sow it everywhere I go.

While at a birthday party this weekend I climbed into a harness and zip lined for the very first time. It took a couple minutes of me talking to myself to leap – followed by a few extreme choice words before I began to enjoy the ride.

As I whisked over the heads of a hundred people, engaged in conversation and unmoved by my escapade, the notion of trust came to mind.

On my part, I had to trust that my harness was secure – best believe I checked and rechecked! I had to trust the weight requirements – that I double, no triple checked! I had to trust the netting underneath to be secure enough to catch me in the event of equipment failure or user error – whew, thankfully that wasn’t needed……..

With all that, my trust was miniscule in comparison to the people on the ground. The people who would have been on the receiving end of danger had my line snapped. The people that cheered as I twirled by never ducking nor dodging from the possibility that I could be thrown on top of them from a sky high distance.

Why can we put trust into people, places, and things that we can’t put into ourselves? Our shortcomings are real, our accomplishments are worthy of celebration, our failures are temporary – why don’t we instinctively trust ourselves to be better – do better?

I got off the zip line feeling like I accomplished something major. As I walked to meet my group I noticed the line had filled with other adults, I told myself because I did it they believe they can too – and you know what, they can!

You know anyone that overcame addiction? You can too!

You know anyone that survived heartbreak and devastation? You can too!

You know anyone that took an idea and turned it into a business? You can too!

Trust in yourself!