Take A Leap Of Faith And Trust In Your Dreams

This is a photo I took this weekend of Coach, a four-year-old Weinmarana, dock diving and swimming on Muskoka Lake.  Seeing him happily jump into the water without a second thought was really inspiring.  It reminded me that we should not be handicapped by fear. Life is too short and too precious not to take the plunge and do what we love.

Life is full of precipices and risks.  Of course, we should always do our research, manage risk, be prepared and be safe. However, risks can be opportunities and without pushing ourselves and stepping out of our comfort zones, there may be no rewards.

Have you ever been almost ready to leap boldly into the next phase of your life, but paused, paralysed by fear?  Fear that you might step right off a cliff like a cartoon character and plummet into an abyss. If you’ve taken a leap of faith recently—like started a blog, started a course (Gizmo’s Jen), fallen in love, adopted a rescue, or jumped off a dock, you know exactly what I mean.

Starting your blog, be authentic, be social and join educational support groups like BlogPaws. Try to create great unique content that people want to see and read, but most of all have fun and share your passion. Plan what success will be for you and work hard to achieve it.

I once got advice from a panel of venture capitalists when I was pitching a digital business and TV series. They said “Don’t be afraid to fail. However, if you are failing, recognize it and change or fail fast.”

Adopting a rescue, find out what breed/s would best suit your lifestyle and make sure you understand the commitment and training required for any pet, especially a puppy. If you need any tips or want to share any tips check out our breed library,  our Training Tuesday Blog and our Puppies Episode. I know I took a leap of faith with Kilo the Pug and it is working out well. My love letter to Kilo.

Jumping into a lake – make sure your dog (or child or friend) can swim.  Always have life jackets handy by water. Coach is 4 years old, extremely fit and a great swimmer.  Weimaranas were bred as hunting dogs and are typically brave and strong. Buster is a 6-month-old Portuguese Water Dog puppy. Buster probably dreams of water, given his breed, and should become a great swimmer. He was introduced very gradually to water, with a life jacket. He was too scared to jump off the dock for several weeks.

 He then watched Coach jumping in multiple times and fetching a toy.  Finally, Buster got the courage to jump in by himself. He took a leap of faith.

I found this quote by Martha Beck on Oprah.com.

“Some psychologists classify every emotion as either love (attraction) or fear (aversion). It’s not unusual for humans to base almost every decision on fear: fear of rejection, fear of poverty, fear of looking dumb, and so on. But after coaching thousands of people, I’ve seen that fear-based decisions lead to hollow victories at best, endless regret at worst. Only love-based decisions create lasting happiness. That’s why the accountant—oops, make that poet—Sara Teasdale advised, “Spend all you have for loveliness, / Buy it and never count the cost.” I’m with her all the way. Loveliness—emphasis on “love”—is the only thing worth buying.”

Let love guide you today and follow your dreams, big and small. Happy Monday.