How To Do Stuff Well

09. How to Fall Well

Remember that falling is not failing. And even if falling was failing, there's nothing wrong with failing (or falling) when you learn, gather, accumulate or recycle something from the attempt.

That's not to say that you should deliberately set out to fall just so that you can learn something from the experience. Those who deliberately fall need an adjustment. Sure, it's possible that the fall itself will give them the adjustment (or, to be more exact, the crash at the end of the fall) but that's no reason to seek out a fall.

Here's how to fall well: embrace it. Simple as that.

I used to have dreams where I would come to the edge of a precipice. It could have been the edge of a cliff, or the parapet of a tall building. I knew somehow that it has been said that people who hit the bottom after a long fall would not just die in the dream but would die in real life too. Imagine that - waking up dead! Invariably though, instead of being frightened in my dream and backing away from the edge, I would jump off.

I would never die. Something else would happen. Instead of falling, I would fly. And it was always a good flight; the kind where you know how to steer and you know how to swoop and soar. I would always enjoy myself in those dreams. They've stopped now. I've stopped coming to the edges of precipices. I've stopped being in danger of falling. I've stopped thinking about it. Until now.

A couple of days ago a work colleague told me that he'd done a bungee jump. He told me how he was scared but he did it anyway. I don't have to fall off a high place to know that I wouldn't be scared. I'd be just, like woo-hoo and I'd be off.

And that's it. That's my advice to you: just jump.

Of course, there are other things I'm scared of, like putting my best effort into something, just in case that's not enough and I fall and smack the ground hard. But that's my problem. I mean - if I never try then I'll never fail, right?

--sigh--

Maybe I need to rethink this.

But until then, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed it. I almost did. Laters.