I’m not one of those “just jump” kind of people.

I always need to know that there is some kind of net below me.

Going SPLAT is not my thing.

But I decided a while back that even if the net involves feeling uncomfortable or may result in a possible level of embarrassment, I’ll take that jump more (of course, keeping the rules of Covid in mind).

It’s not like I’ve never felt uncomfortable or embarrassed before and I’m still here to talk about it, right?

With each passing day, it feels like life is just slipping away for me and for those around me. Circles that were once tightly knit are sadly becoming smaller and I find myself shaking my head and thinking…

“Is this what life is supposed to be all about?”

“When is life going to cut me some slack so that I can prioritize the things I want?”

I’m thinking back to the last time I really jumped. I found myself on an away-from-home seminar 9 hour long luxury bus trip to Philadelphia with 50 legal professionals, none of whom I knew. It brought me back to the first days at school, worrying about not knowing anyone, being the odd (Black) girl out and not part of any pre-formed cliques.

I had to remind myself that I had traveled solo plenty of times before and introverted little old me not only made a few new acquaintances, I thoroughly enjoyed discovering the city and getting fresh ideas for future writing.

As a complement to that Philly jump, I purposely didn’t research much about the Philadelphia sights and things to do before leaving. The lack of “research” was refreshing because I was able to just let my feet take me to whatever seemed interesting on my Google maps in my non-seminar/free time…

Liberty Bell, Franklin Square, Love Park and my favorite, the hustle and bustle of Reading Terminal Market.

And that same weekend just outside the hotel was the Midtown Village Fall Festival . It was a gorgeously warm day so you know I loved sipping on coffee while watching the consequences of what cheap food, too many alcoholic beverages and music will do to people when the day turned into night. 🙂

Writing ideas filled my brain and it gave me another city experience to use as the backdrop in a future story.

I was glad that I jumped and I’m thinking about other ways I can jump some more in these times of Covid…

When is the last time you “jumped”?