I was glued to my TV yesterday my heart beating and my eyes wide open, watching as Felix jumped from the edge of space, wondering why anyone would attempt to this. Jumping at 40km from earth in an astraunaut suit, risking your life, why exactly?
And then I watched him land. And I realized how incredibly amazing these five minutes must have been for him. For the rest of us, it was just another five minutes. Many of us spent it watching him on television, or on our laptops, tweeting and facebooking and flooding the blogosphere with his name. "What did you do today?" I asked my friend who was lying on his couch, feet up, laptop on his chest, TV in the background, and I knew that's what he must've been like all day. And what did Felix do?
He risked his life, yes, just to break a record and do something no human has ever done before. And these five minutes were probably more thrilling than a hundred years of someone's else's life. That's what I'm taking from this.
You see, lately I've been in a rut. It feels like I wake up everyday to the same damn routine and it's like I'm waiting for something to change but at the same time I'm not really doing anything to change it. And I've been having this conversation with so many of my friends lately that I know I'm not the only one who feels stuck that way. I realize it's hard. You have a job, you have a salary, you have a certain way of life and even if it doesn't make you happy, the idea of losing that salary scares the shit out of us. What if whatever we try doesn't work? What if we're not as "special" as we'd hope to be? Well, what is special about someone like Felix isn't that he is built differently than the rest of us humans that he can physically withstand a 1000km/hour speed. It's that he has the willpower and the courage to just do it. Even if the risk is death.
What I also came to realize is if I don't take a risk, if I don't jump 40km of my own edge and take a leap of faith, then I could very well live another 50 years stuck in a rut, waiting for something to happen to me. And that's not how I want to live.
And then I watched him land. And I realized how incredibly amazing these five minutes must have been for him. For the rest of us, it was just another five minutes. Many of us spent it watching him on television, or on our laptops, tweeting and facebooking and flooding the blogosphere with his name. "What did you do today?" I asked my friend who was lying on his couch, feet up, laptop on his chest, TV in the background, and I knew that's what he must've been like all day. And what did Felix do?
He risked his life, yes, just to break a record and do something no human has ever done before. And these five minutes were probably more thrilling than a hundred years of someone's else's life. That's what I'm taking from this.
You see, lately I've been in a rut. It feels like I wake up everyday to the same damn routine and it's like I'm waiting for something to change but at the same time I'm not really doing anything to change it. And I've been having this conversation with so many of my friends lately that I know I'm not the only one who feels stuck that way. I realize it's hard. You have a job, you have a salary, you have a certain way of life and even if it doesn't make you happy, the idea of losing that salary scares the shit out of us. What if whatever we try doesn't work? What if we're not as "special" as we'd hope to be? Well, what is special about someone like Felix isn't that he is built differently than the rest of us humans that he can physically withstand a 1000km/hour speed. It's that he has the willpower and the courage to just do it. Even if the risk is death.
What I also came to realize is if I don't take a risk, if I don't jump 40km of my own edge and take a leap of faith, then I could very well live another 50 years stuck in a rut, waiting for something to happen to me. And that's not how I want to live.
Then take that fucking leap ! I love you
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