I’m afraid to jump.

Right before this picture was taken, my then 5 year old daughter and I were sitting on the side of a waterfall in Reserva Los Campesinos in Costa Rica. We had hiked up the mountain, and scooted on our butts to the middle hand-in-hand, preparing to jump into the mountain springs a handful of meters below. We had been moving quickly up until then, with all appearance of fearlessness, but we both paused in unison on the ledge, catching our breath and staring at the foamy water below.

I turned to her and asked:

“Are you afraid?”

“Yes,” she said without pause.

“Do you still want to jump?” I asked, prepared to scoot back to the starting point with her, still hand-in-hand.

“Yes,” she said again without pause.

And so we did.

And on the way down, and then again as the cool water washed over us- exhilarating us and rewarding us for our decision, I thought with pride: that’s my girl.

Whether diving headfirst into a male-dominated career many warned me against (high stakes corporate litigation at world renowned law firm, Skadden Arps), leaving my legal career behind after 13+ years to write a new story, submitting my debut novel manuscript for publication consideration (and a second, and a third!), or cliff diving in the middle of the most beautiful place I’ve ever traveled – I’m always, always afraid to jump.
But I do it anyway.

Jump into Bloom with me this week. We’ll talk about fear, and jumping anyway, the highs and lows of youth sports, social media addiction, why Hamilton is the most genius thing ever, and books! We’ll talk lots and lots about books!

Xo
Amy

More about Amy on her bio page.