Preparing to Leap.

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." Amelia Earhart

She knew. Do you? I didn't know.  What I mean is, I was not clear why I wasn't acting out. Was it that the decision was so difficult or had I made it difficult by those tricky road blocks I had positioned in my own flight path?

Earlier in October I made a trip to New York City for a Women's Leadership conference with Emerging Women, a Feminine Power movement founded by Chantal Pierrat, whose mission is to encourage change in the world through Feminine Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Satisfy your curiosity at  http://www.emergingwomen.com/

It was a very compelling conference with speakers like Arianna Huffington, Brene Brown, Eve Ensler and so many more amazing accomplished and inspirational female leaders. The presenter and author Tara Mohr influenced me the most with her workshop on Playing Big. She raised the question, why are women who are educated, successful, visionaries, leaders, and talented still playing it small? Women's voices and influence are desperately needed in the world today.

I wondered, why do I feel like I am playing it small, in view of my own talents and skills for leading and the arts?  At the heart of my desires I recognize this arm reaching motion to catch and uplift others, mainly women who feel stuck in the scratched groove of their lives and circumstances. Rotating within the same cycle not quite able to rise above or fulfill their own personal promise and dreams. 

I know for certain that I really long to express my musical and creative gifts and be of service in empowering other women in personal discovery. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I am going to burst - if I don't burst on to the seen!  Do you feel that way too? Well you are not alone as this challenge of stepping out and playing big seems to be rooted in the collective unconscious of women today in America and around the world.  Play, but not too big seems to be the paradigm we live in.

Well clearly, that is why I went to the conference. Not only to connect with other like minded women, feel inspired, assess the gap in my action, and to learn how to take that leap! The point of emerging and unfolding is about stepping out.  I am feeling on the verge of that tipping point.  So how do we awesome women break out of the smallness that no longer serves us?

To possess tenacity for starters would be a great quality to have, especially if your mission is to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic....solo. The "mere" act of a solo flight requires the very definition of tenacity; the quality or fact of being very determined and persistent.  As Amelia viewed it, making the decision to step out and brave the unknown is the difficult aspect of the process.  And indeed it is. Perhaps your mission is not to actually fly solo but metaphorically speaking a step out can feel like a solo flight.  Feeling vulnerable even fearful of some failure, that is certain to be part of the territory. Yet when we risk all, we experience delight!

Let's imagine for a moment how Amelia felt in her cockpit seat of the diminutive Lockheed Vega for 14 hours and 56 minutes with just her instruments and small panoramic view, sheer terror and delight no doubt! I believe that is what is awaiting us if we only make the move to take our first step, leap or flight!

The real difficulty lies in how we have made it difficult to make the decision to act upon something. In Playing Big, Tara indicates that we are busy, busy, busy crafting the perfect message, hiding, over complicating, collecting, insisting on another degree, I must do "this" before that, procrastinating...whatever it is that you are doing to prevent your brave bold (or small) move. 

I want this. I want to risk delight and take my next solo flight. No matter the risk, fear or failure. What about you?  

So, I have identified that I like to over complicate things and put "this before that."  What about you....can you identify how you are making it difficult to make the leap?

Please share in the comments section below if you'd like.  

Next time - more on Leaping or flying!