Take a leap of faith

Take a leap of faith

 My new favourite quote. I love the image these five words immediately put in my mind. I picture a half-sketched, half real young woman, no, a girl, dressed in a pale aqua rain coat over a similar dress. Her one hand is clutched to an identically coloured wooden umbrella, and the other flung out in the wind as if she were embracing a long-denied entity. Despite it raining mercilessly, her umbrella remains unopened.

“Young girls shouldn’t play in the rain” she hears a should-be-respected-and-listened-to elder say somewhere in distance.

“It’s unladylike”.

The girl becomes hesitant for a second, and so drops both arms to her side and lifts her pale face to the skies above, watching the trembling water pellets descend from the clouds. When is the last time she had felt the naked rain run down her skin? She can’t remember. The drenched figure turns to face nowhere in particular, a smile now adorning her cheeks. She steps forward and begins walking for once in her life to an undecided destination. Gradually, a nimble walk turns into a joyous run, flailing arms and ringing laughter. And then she does it. Surrounded by showers of waters, she takes a mighty jump into the air. A leap of faith. Her face beams with emotion, she’s never before felt so alive. She doesn’t care anymore. She’s free.

I hope I’m not the only one that relates certain phrases or words with images and thoughts of my own? Can anyone else relate? In some ways, I envy my imagined girl greatly. I adore heavy rain, and normally try not to find shelter when I encounter it. I can imagine the earth-with-rainwater aroma of her surroundings, the gentle erupting pitter-patter of the rain, the sensation of cool droplets on bare skin. I’m envious of her glorious encounter with such a simple trait of nature. I also envy the girl for her bravery, and in many ways have been trying to be like her for some time now. I’ve always been told to follow the crowd, fit in and jump on the bandwagon. I’ve always been absolutely terrified of trying new things, of independently venturing out and trying new things, such as starting this blog, for example. Lately, I’ve been trying to change that. In so many aspects of my life, I’m bounding into the unknown and pushing myself into new things. I’m taking a leap of faith. I love familiarity and permanency and security. I hate change. I’m trying to change all that, and stories/accounts of my attempts, successes and failures are sure to follow, so watch this space! J And for anyone reading this that’s like me, I encourage you to do the same. Go on, scare yourself! You’ll thank me later.

                                                     Xo, Ziona