I’m Jumping Off a Bridge with a Bunch of People I Don’t Know

As some of you know, I’m attending the World Domination Summit in July. Last year was the first year and I didn’t even know about it at the time, but one of the things I remember hearing about afterwards was that a group of attendees went skydiving together while they were all in Portland. That was one of the many reasons why I knew this event was something I absolutely could not miss.

Fast forward 7 months and I’ve purchased my ticket, booked my flight and hotel, and I’ve been anxiously anticipating my first official “summit” or “conference” if you will. Well, apparently flying across the Country by myself to hang out with a bunch of people I do not know (literally, I don’t know a single person minus a few online connections) for 5 days wasn’t crazy and adventurous enough… So, I just bought my ticket to participate in the Plummet at the Summit organized by one unstoppable guy, Joel Runyon. Pretty much, I’ll be jumping off a bridge (twice!) with 29 other fools on the Friday before WDS begins. Ahhh!!!!

I’m not really scared of the jump (yet) and hopefully skydiving will have prepared me (at least a little) for this next jump. Though for some reason I have to say that I absolutely find bungee jumping to be much scarier than skydiving. It’s not the falling to my death part, but I have this vision of my leg snapping off with the pull of the bungee or throwing my back out of alignment or something that will disable me for the entire weekend or worse, my life… which could quite possibly happen but it’s probably better to stop thinking about that.

But what really scares the living crap out of me is not knowing a single person and that ugly voice in my head that wonders whether I’ll even fit in with this amazing, unique, unconventional crowd. Am I cool enough? Do I fit into this community? Am I going to just be standing there sucking down my 5th beer wondering why the hell I have no one to talk to?

Despite my extroverted ways, I’m rather intimidated to spend 3 full days around these folks – so many of whom I follow online and admire – without a safety net or a partner in crime or anyone to lean on. Now, that makes jumping off a bridge seem a lot less scary, which is exactly why I’ve decided to do it. I figure if I can survive that then I can definitely survive the remainder of the weekend!

There’s a lot of things I want to write about in conjunction with making the decision to jump (though technically I still have to actually make the decision to jump). BUT I think the most important and liberating aspect is that so far all of 2012 has been a series of jumping for me – and it’s not over yet. I found out about WDS and within 10 days bought my ticket, I’ve opened my life up to some new opportunities and projects, and I’ve jumped into this blog full force giving it a LOT of my attention and time. Not to mention some other big endeavors like a new healthier lifestyle, investing in myself through a variety of ways including working with a life coach, and starting a writing workshop I’ve only dreamt about in the past.

So, if there’s any advice I can give you – it’s this:

If you want to do it – DO IT. If you want to jump – JUMP. If you want to buy that ticket, go to that event, take that class, start a new business, quit your job, start a second job, blog, write, photograph, paint, make new friends, move to a new city, adopt a dog, breakup with that asshole, ask that girl out, train for a triathlon, eat vegan, sell all your shit and travel the world… whatever – DO IT!

Nothing feels better than saying yes to something you know you really want to do but that you’re scared to do, and my only worry now is that I can’t stop saying YES to the shit I really want to do. And hot damn does it feel good.