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Who needs a mental break?

With absolute respect and appreciation for everyone working the front lines, including my own daughter, I want to do something that could be considered insensitive. 

I would like to encourage you to stop thinking about COVID-19 for a few minutes. 

Given the realities you may be facing, I realize this is a big ask.

Instead, I would like to invite you to come with me on a mental break.  

Join me on a quick journey about the simple joy of surprising a loved one and the wonderful gift of making memories. 

My hope is, thinking about other things from time to time will:

• give our batteries a recharge,
• remind us that life will continue after the pandemic,
• get us thinking about how we want to live it when the time comes.

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With that, I’d like to tell you a story.

Our family has always loved surprising each other. 

There is something awesome about catching someone you love completely off-guard with a blessing they wouldn’t have dreamed of asking for. 

This has been a fun and memorable part of our family life for years.

You would think they would catch on, wondering what’s around the corner, expecting a surprise.

(“Expecting a surprise.” Is that an oxymoron? Like “light twinkie?”)

I am not sure who gets the bigger gift, the recipient or the giver.

We have enjoyed surprising each other so many times, I could start a blog series.

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But today’s post ties into a series I started a couple of months ago, about getting out of your comfort zone.

Let me tell you, this is the story of a time we did that in a big way.

I get butterflies in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it.

Getting out of our comfort zones has so many benefits

Doing what’s hard and new can be a tremendous source of joy, because of the way it helps you grow.

While there are obvious benefits to security, there can also be big rewards to taking a chance. 

So, take a risk. 

Take a leap.

This is not to be confused with “take a flying leap,” which is more of an insult and what I wish the coronavirus would do.

Stop and ask yourself:

What will you look back on someday with fondness and joy, still in awe of the fact that you said “yes?”

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When our son was growing up, he researched skydiving.  

He was little when we first started hearing him talk about it.

He relished the idea of freefalling through the air. He was our high-energy crazy kid, a wild child who loved doing everything fast, so it made sense. 

Falling through the skies at breakneck speeds matched his personality.

While the rest of us also love adventure, we thought skydiving sounded crazy.  

Come on! Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane? 

Adrenaline is good stuff but doing THAT to get it seemed certifiably nuts.

When he would talk about skydiving, I would laugh and say, “you could NOT pay me to do that!”

I always thought he would grow out of it.

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Our son was disappointed to learn he had to be 18 to skydive (thank you, God, for wise people who write safety laws).

But he held onto the idea for years, dreaming of the day he would be old enough to go. 

Whenever he spoke of it, the rest of us laughed and said we’d be there to watch, but from the ground.

Just for the fun of it, we once drove to a local airport and sat in chairs, watching people parachute overhead.  It was neat to see the tiny figures become larger as they approached.

Our son loved it, of course.

But the thought of braving my fears turned my stomach inside out. 

So many butterflies.

I could not fathom what it must be like to be that high above the ground with a piece of cloth protecting me. 

It was definitely not my thing.

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Fast forward a few years

When our son was 17, our daughter came up with the brilliant idea of secretly researching skydiving places and surprising him with a paid jump for his 18^th birthday… the three of us could split the cost and make it his birthday present.

This would be a gift to remember!

It was so exciting!

What a perfect surprise! 

He could finally jump! 

And after all of the years of us scoffing at the idea, he would never expect us to pay for it!

We could have left it there and our son would have loved it. 

That would have been amazing.

But our family has long enjoyed the irreplaceable bond that comes from sharing experiences.

The key word here is “sharing.”

Whether the moments are big or small, we like to do life together and talk about it for years afterward. 

Unity is one of the core strengths of our family, because we’ve shared so many experiences together.

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So I was thinking about that birthday surprise.

And an idea was brewing.

The butterflies started kicking in.

Yup.  You guessed it.

What if…

As a joy coach, “what if” is one of my all-time favorite questions because it shifts a person’s thinking from stuck thinking to possibility thinking.

If you get nothing else out of this story, let it be the advice to trust the warmth that grows in your heart when you ask yourself this very powerful question:

What if?

This was definitely a WHAT IF moment.

I was overcome by:

• The thought of the memories! Oh, the shared experience!
• The sheer joy of the enormity of the surprise! Our son would never see this coming!
• Momentary insanity.

I messaged my husband and daughter and suggested that we really surprise him.

We should do this thing.

All four of us.

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I’ll tell you more in the next JOY BITE

(Click here to read it!)

It’ll give you another quick mental break!

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for an opportunity that could help you grow.

If it stretches your comfort zone enough to put butterflies in your stomach, you’re probably onto something good.