{"id":86,"date":"2011-08-12T05:09:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-12T05:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/2011\/08\/12\/jump\/"},"modified":"2016-02-23T03:33:29","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T03:33:29","slug":"jump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/jump\/","title":{"rendered":"Jump"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\t<\/span>I am hiking around Avalanche Lake in Glacier, Montana with my dad and brother. I stop at a freezing stream. It\u2019s not too wide, and Mark and my dad hop across it without a second thought. I stop at the water\u2019s edge. The water is moving very fast and it is icy cold. Eying the large, wobbly rock in the middle of the stream, I know I have to jump there to get to the other side. I stand at the bank, scared to jump. I\u2019m not sure what I\u2019m afraid of \u2013 that I will fall? That I will hurt myself? That I will slip? I am unwilling to leap across the stream to get to the other side. My dad and Mark are cheering me on, as we laugh at my ridiculous fear. Finally, my dad stands on the rock in the middle of the stream and holds out his hand. Slowly, I grab it, and jump onto the rock. From there I jump to the other side of the stream. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\t<\/span>We all have moments like this. <\/span>Standing on the edge of cliff, ready to jump into the lake at the bottom. <\/span>A diving board. The moment before you jump out of the plane, praying that your parachute will work. <\/span>That moment, where you decide to jump off the bridge, trusting that bungee jumping is actually safe. I\u2019ve never actually been cliff jumping, sky diving, or bungee jumping. Heck, I can\u2019t even jump across a little stream \ud83d\ude42 But we all experience things like this every day, the moment where we choose to follow through with a decision. <\/span>To me, the scary thing is not jumping into the unknown \u2013 jumping onto the rock hoping it\u2019s sturdy. No. The scary part is letting go of the edge of the stream. <\/span>Of forcing your knees to bend and your feet to leave the ground. To leave the cliff behind. To leave the other side of the bank behind. To let go of your comfort zone. To say goodbye to your past, not fear the future, and embrace the present. Embrace the free falling. Embrace the moment you land in the water. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s getting on a plane to college. It\u2019s embracing your greatest fears and facing them.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s speaking out in a crowd. Standing alone when everyone disagrees with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s taking a risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next week, I get on a plane to go to BYU. To live with six girls in an apartment. To cook my own food and make my own money. <\/span>My comfort zone is laughing with my family in a suburban on a road trip somewhere. <\/span>It\u2019s watching a chick flick with my mom and sisters on a Sunday night. It\u2019s sitting at the foot of my parents\u2019 bed, confiding with and listening to them. <\/span>Going to church on Sunday for three hours, sitting next to Luke Rallison in Sunday School, and shaking my bishop\u2019s hand in the hallway. <\/span>Coming home from school, teaching piano, doing my calculus homework, reading some philosophy, and eating dinner with my family. <\/span>Sitting in a humane letters discussion and voicing my opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n

But now I get to take that leap. <\/span>I am going to BYU. <\/span>I still will watch a chick flick on Sunday nights, but with my roommates. <\/span>I will still go to church every Sunday, but I won\u2019t sit next to Luke in Sunday School and I will have a new bishop. <\/span>My classes will be different \u2013 they won\u2019t be the familiar Socratic discussions with my best friends I\u2019ve known since I was 12. <\/span>They\u2019ll be lectures, on social science. Bigger classes. But I\u2019m excited. I\u2019m excited to learn new things. I\u2019m scared to cook healthy, yummy food on my own \u2013 but my mother has been training me my whole life for that \ud83d\ude42 I\u2019m scared to manage my finances and earn a living, but my dad is a genius with managing finances and will always be there for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m scared to live by myself, but I am excited. It\u2019s a new chapter in the book of my life. I don\u2019t know if I will ever be ready or fearless. But, I must jump.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am hiking around Avalanche Lake in Glacier, Montana with my dad and brother. I stop at a freezing stream. It\u2019s not too wide, and Mark and my dad hop across it without a second thought. I stop at the water\u2019s edge. The water is moving very fast and it is icy cold. Eying the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":904,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emmaletters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}