The Adventure of Uncertainty

Watching the trapeze artist soar through the air with the greatest of ease, we grasp that this is the most thrilling part of his act. This is where he defies gravity. This is where he flies. We understand that the moment between trapezes is a magical time, the time when anything can happen, the time when there is no past, no future, only the present. Though we may sense that this magical midair suspension is all part of the thrill, few of us ever permit ourselves to savour such sweet moments in our own lives.

Most of us don’t want to be in between—and, in fact, do everything in our power to avoid those marvelous, pit-of-the-stomach, free-fall moments—usually because we worry that we might fall, and fail. If anything, lots of us think of few things worse than being caught in between jobs, careers, relationships, lives. It’s terrifying. It’s embarrassing. It’s shameful. It’s painful. It’s not where we want to be.

Yet that’s preciously the place where so many of us find ourselves at the dawn of the 21st century. We live in a time of unprecedented uncertainty and insecurity....

But I’d like to suggest a sizzling, soaring, blood-pumping, pulse-racing, high-flying alternative: What if you were to embrace the uncertainty? What if you were to see this state of groundlessness as a good thing? What if, for the first time, you allowed yourself to not know the future, to assume the role of adventurer in your own life?

-- Excerpt from Between Trapezes: Flying into a New Life with the Greatest of Ease (2004) by Gail Blanke