Ready To Fly

With sand in between my toes, sweat drops pooling along my hairline and the ocean waves breaking at my feet – I broke. 

It had been an incredibly difficult two years. After our business went bust, I was left picking up the pieces of both the company and the broken partnership that left me feeling wounded. Trying to put everything back together in the midst of a global pandemic was like working on a 2000-piece puzzle with no image of how it all fits together. It all felt like a failure. 

After rebuilding the Cladwell team, launching two apps entirely from scratch, and finally fulfilling my 18-month commitment of no salary, I hit my breaking point. Then, right there on the beach, I saw it as clear as day.

A young seagull, with the tiniest of feet, took off running in a full sprint across the sand. Then, just inches from my chair, the bird lifted into the air with absolute ease.  It wasn’t that I’d never seen a seagull fly, it was that I’d never paid attention to what happens just before its flight. Sun beaming on my face & salt in the air, I had a breakthrough. 

Switching from standing to flying in an instant is nearly impossible. Unnatural, even. The seagull needed a transition.  From belly up to overnight success is completely unnatural. And I had been running – full sprint – unaware of the abundance of grace that lives in the transition. The space between point A (acquiring Cladwell) and point B (coming into my own) was the time I needed to heal, find my footing and aim for something new.  

The beach vacation ended, but as I went home I knew deep down I was finally ready to lift off.