That Feeling In Your Chest Before You Leap

What was it that Rose said in Titanic? “I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back, no one who cared… or even noticed”…”I feel I’m standing in the middle of a crowded room, screaming at the top of my lungs, and no one even looks up”. It’s that feeling in your chest. Part butterflies, part so tight you can barely breath. That feeling when you know the time to make a big leap of faith into something exciting has come, but no one really knows (or understands) just yet.

I have never really been a major risk taker. I’ve been the type to leap, but with a double safety net below me…and a waiver signed…and extra insurance. So yeah, I leap, but I weight the options first. I don’t think that this has ever really hurt me, but the internal struggle of deciding when to leap and how far to leap can be downright excruciating.

When it comes to my career, I have always played it pretty safe, until February 2020 when we officially launched Beyond Boss. I felt that feeling in my chest then. I felt it when we launched Beyond Boss Online just days before the world shut down in March 2020. I felt it when I officially cut back on wedding photography in 2020. Before we launched Beyond Boss Insiders and every product we have put out there. I feel it now as we plot and plan for the next big moves for Beyond Boss and my own career.

That feeling in my chest…it is excitement. It is fear. It is hope. It is terror and joy and gratitude and trepidation.

Those feelings often leave me feeling like Rose. Like I am standing in a crowded room, internally screaming, and no one even looks up.

But then I stop. I take a look out at that great precipice. I take a deep breath. I close my eyes. I leap.

Life is short. I think if the past two years of a global pandemic, uprisings, anger, fear, resentment, and isolation has taught us anything, it is that we are not guaranteed a single bit of time here.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know why I am writing this. I have no idea if anyone will even read it. I guess it is my way of screaming before leaping. If you too are screaming in a crowded room, know that we are looking up. We see you and hear you. Ambitious women are a whole other breed, and we have to stick together.

So leap, girlfriend. That thing you have been debating for a week, month, year, decade? Just leap. If it doesn’t work out, you can always regroup. 2022 is ours…good or bad.