The Art of Backflipping

For years now I have been trying to do a backflip. I can dunk a basketball and walk across a room on my hands, still to jump backwards and over was a feat I dared not attempt. The fear has been paralyzing. What made it worse was seeing people who were less athletic than me complete the task, yet not wanting to fall or hurt myself kept me from even trying at all. Imagine fervently wanting a car but won't buy it because you are afraid to crash it. Well, I broke free the other day and finally gathered the courage to purchase that vehicle and take it on a test drive. I didn't crash once, though I swerved a few times.

Last Wednesday morning, at Far Rockaway Beach in Queens, I jumped backwards and over. I lept into the air and I trusted. I trusted myself, I trusted the universe. Though nerve-wrenching at first, I eventually completed the feat enough times that I felt comfortable doing it. By doing so, I didn't only complete a back hand spring but I conquered a phobia: the fear of falling. I know that the fear of me falling from a back flip is directly related to my fear of falling while trying to do artistic acrobats. As charasmatic and out-going as I am, sometimes I get nervous about standing out from the crowd, to do something that someone else can't do -- or chooses not to, and live with some excitement and dare in my life. Although I know that I am capable and probably even positioned to do so, I can be conservative with some of my expressions for fear of not getting the unique one correct. But this thinking doesn't make sense. Why would you have all that potential if it was not meant to be used? Why should you be strong if you are not meant to be powerful? It is this question that has nagged me and challenged me to keep trying, keep moving. I understand that backflipping is an advantage, an edge, another option. Owning its execution opens the gateway for more exciting and empowering opportunities. But I'll never know these opportuntities unless I believe I can get them. So I must go for them without fear, not being afraid of falling because I know how to get up and I am focused on where I am going. The mind can conceive what the body cannot yet acheive. Thus, as long as you are not physically paralyzed, there is no reason to mentally paralyze yourself too because there is still work to do.



I have come to find that the art of backflipping, the discipline of creating new options for yourself, is about having faith. You can have all the abilities in the world, and then work and prepare and plan for as long as you want to do something about it, but if you don't have the courage to act on your potential then you will never be satisfied. Your movements don't have to be as fancy as a backflip, they should just reflect the creativity and courage you possess inside of you at that particular moment in your life. And then when it's time to do your own interpretation of the "backflip," remember why you are doing what you are doing and how you will feel if you don't. Then just do it. Choose faith over fear and you will make it there...wherever that there may be for you.