The leap

The Leap

Everyone has a driver in life, the thing they are most motivated by. For some it is money, for some it is power, but for me it has always been love.

Since I can remember, I have been a hopeless romantic. Wanting that can’t eat, can’t sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, World Series kind of love. I have always believed in love, sometimes to a fault. Like I could find love in almost everyone, which left me heartbroken, half loved, and settling.

And while being this hopeless romantic, I have also carried a thorn bush wrapped around my heart. I will tell the universe exactly what I want and then settle for breadcrumbs in love. I have done this so many times, and I keep asking myself why. Why does it keep happening this way? Why, when I give my entire heart on a silver platter, do I still find myself with the short end of the stick?

The truth is, it is because I tolerated it. I allowed people to treat me badly instead of creating healthy boundaries, out of fear they would leave me and I would lose love. But then I had to ask myself, what is worse? Getting your heart broken over and over again because someone is not giving you the love you deserve, or standing alone knowing that you are worth the whole shebang?

And if I want the whole shebang in love, I have to want it everywhere, in my work, my friendships, my creativity, my joy. It cannot just come from a person, it has to come from the way I choose to live.

The sad fact is many of us do not have the courage to demand that. We take what we can get because it feels easier. We take shortcuts thinking we are saving ourselves from pain. But the truth is, living an unfulfilled life is the slowest and most painful death. A life without being loved right, by people, by purpose, by life itself, is a death by a thousand paper cuts.

Someone I admire posted a reel the other day that said: “If pain is the only thing standing between me and the finish line, then pain does not stand a chance.”

So much of life is painful, but you can either dive right into it and build resilience until nothing hurts that bad, or you can take it in tiny doses until one day you wake up realizing you cannot stop the bleeding from a thousand paper cuts. The choice is yours.

I decided to take the pain, to walk fearlessly into a life filled with unknowns. Because pain is the path to clarity. On the other side of deep pain is deep pleasure, the kind of fulfillment that comes only when you refuse to settle.

If I can demand true love, I can demand true joy. If I can hold out for a partner who sees me fully, I can also hold out for a life that does the same.

That is what the leap really is, not just falling in love with a person but falling in love with life. Refusing mediocrity in any corner of my existence. Choosing the whole shebang, not just in romance but in every single thing I touch.

The cliff is where you stay when fear wins. The leap is what happens when courage takes over. The cliff is almost-love, half-dreams, and comfort zones that quietly kill you. The leap is clarity, freedom, wild love, and a life beyond your imagination. One keeps you safe but stagnant. The other requires everything from you, but it gives you everything in return.

You can stand at the edge forever, but life only begins when you leap.