Conquering your dreams

One thing that I love is flying trapeze. It’s been a part of my life for eight years and it has changed me more than I can say. Today, I decided to share that story with you, because I feel like we often relate in the most unexpected ways.

I was thirteen when the idea first hit me. I don’t know why or where that idea came from, but one day it dawned on me that doing flying trapeze would be epic. During a whole year, that little seed that had planted itself in my head grew, and eventually became a majestic tree, with branches and roots twisting around my every thoughts. The only thing I could think about, the only thing I could dream of, was flying trapeze. I did my research and found a school in Laval, Trapeze Le Voltigeur, about an hour away from where I was living. It took a few months to convince my parents (by then, I was fourteen, which means that I couldn’t drive or pay for class myself.) and summon up the courage to actually sign up. I would go on the website almost every day, looking for some sort of sign. I would spend hours looking at videos and reading stories of people who had already conquered my dream. One day, finally, I got tired of waiting for a sign that would probably never come. Besides, I wanted to prove wrong to all the people who had told me I’d never make it. So I called the school.

From the very first class, I was hooked. It was exactly as I had imagined. The way the trapeze felt in my hands, the way the wind ruffled my hair, the smell of chalk... From that moment on, flying trapeze became my everything. It was my happy place, my never ending well of inspiration and my main topic of conversation. I loved the beauty of it, the grace and the elegance, but also the energy and the drive that it took. The talent to make it look effortless. The thrill of being so high up in the air...

I don’t fly anymore, at least not at the moment. Life changes and it sometimes lead you to make difficult choices. But trapeze is still a part of me and I still think about it every single day. However, surprisingly, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t the tricks that I learned, or even the feeling of freedom I often felt. What I think about the most is the people that I met there. Being a teenager, I needed to feel like I belonged somewhere, like I was a part of something special. Flying every week with these people of all ages but who shared a passion made me feel... happy. It was a safe place to be myself, and to make mistakes. They helped shape who I am today. Flying thought me perseverance and dedication, but it also thought me how to trust myself and how to trust others.

Of course, it wasn’t always easy. I fell down, and I said stupid things, and there’s been countless times when I went home crying because I wasn’t proud of myself at all. I was learning how to do flying trapeze, but I was also learning how to become... me.

Sometimes, I think: “What if I had never gone? What if I had never taken the chance and had never made the jump?”. My life would be completely different. I don’t know what pushed me to try flying trapeze in the first place, or how I knew I would love it from the start, but I’m sure glad I did. It was incredible, terrifying, and totally epic.

So if you have a dream, one that keeps you up at night, one that you can’t get out of your head, why not go after it? Try it, take that first step towards it. It might end up being exactly what you need. It might become a beautiful adventure that’ll make you grow in a way you can’t even imagine. It might lead you to incredible people you’ll cherish all your life. Those dreams are there for a reason. So jump.

-TM-