The times they are a ’quaking, making life uncertain for us all.  Some of us will be forced to make leaps of faith into new lifestyles.  Even without today’s uncertainty, there are always brave souls who get fed up with their lot in life and want to do something different.

As inspiration, I offer up The Adventures of the Reluctant Messiah, a tale of stepping out into a brave new world.

Richard Bach wrote Reluctant Messiah but you might remember his name from his more popular book Jonathon Livingston Seagull.

To be honest with you, he’s not my cuppa and I didn’t read much more of Reluctant Messiah than the opening, hand-written story but that one story within a story pretty much sums up letting go in life.

The story about the creature who dared to let go

There once lived a village of creatures who lived in the bottom of a flowing river.  They existed by clinging to rocks in order to avoid being swept up by the currents.  One day, one of the bottom dwellers grew tired of surviving.  He wanted to experience life beyond the village’s little swath of river bottom real estate and decided to let go.

The other bottom-dwellers cautioned him against letting go, telling the would-be adventurer he would be swept up by the current and thrown against the rocks.  However, the adventurer turned a deaf ear and endeavored to let go any way.

The adventurer took a breath and released the rock he clung to….The river promptly swept him up and bashed him against the rocks.  The creature refused to return to clinging, though.  Over time, he learned to ride the current and avoid the rocks, and thus avoided hurting himself.

Somewhat later, our adventurer passed over another village of bottom-dwelling creatures who looked up as he floated by.  They expressed awe at the creature so much like themselves but capable of flight.  The new villagers called him a messiah, come to save them.

The adventurer shared what he had learned…the river is an avenue to adventure but only if we are willing to let go and ride its current.

The new villagers voiced the same fears as the adventurer’s original brethren and refused to let go.  The adventurer passed them by and they were left with only stories of the messiah.

The moral of the story

I know this adventuresome creature because I’ve been him.  In my case, though, I’ve gone multiple rounds of clinging, letting go, getting bashed, clinging, letting go, getting bashed and so on.  Several rounds, though, and I’ve finally started to learn  how to swim. 

Here’s what I’ve learned after coming into contact with a many a rock.

Every risk carries a potential cost and usually you have to pay your dues before you can start to accumulate your rewards.

Sometimes when we plunge, we become like the adventurer and get tossed willy nilly by the water and bashed against the rocks.  If that happens, as often as not it’s because we have to develop new skills -- but we can’t begin to do so until we let go.  Said another way, the only way to learn how to swim with the current is to swim.

Depending on the endeavor, it can take time to build up the necessary muscles -- be they physical, emotional or mental – that we need to stay afloat. Sometimes we have to try and try again.

With time and perseverance, though, we can not only stay afloat but soar high.  High enough that others see our accomplishments earned with seeming ease.

The thing we each have to decide is…are we going to be the clinger or the risk-taking adventurer.  If we choose the former, then clinging survival will be our lot in life – along with all the others multitudes who are just getting by.

If we choose the latter, we may, mostly like will, get bashed along the way of our adventure but life will be an adventure and the potential for dynamic rewards are higher.

So, what do you choose?