![\"20120927_105639\"](\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/20120927_105639-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n\u201c30 seconds!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jump Master\u2019s yells, his voice muffled under the pulsating blades of the helicopter just feet above my head.<\/p>\n
This is a preparatory command \u2013 it means we\u2019re about to jump.<\/p>\n
The helicopter finishes turning, straightens its flight path, and stabilizes as it flies over 60mph through the air.<\/p>\n
\u201c30 seconds!\u201d we echo.\u00a0 Two other paratroopers sit to my left on the edge of the Blackhawk helicopter, helmets strapped on tight, hands grasping the reserve parachutes on their chests.\u00a0 Our legs dangle over the edge.<\/p>\n
My body is shaking.<\/i><\/p>\n
Of course, in the air, 30 seconds doesn\u2019t feel like 30 seconds.\u00a0 It feels like 5.\u00a0 Before I have time to think, the Jump Master slaps the top of my helmet and yells \u201cgo!\u201d<\/p>\n
I grip the metal floor of the helicopter and pull myself to the edge.\u00a0 I look out over hundreds of miles of terrain toward the horizon.\u00a0 For a split second, I look down at my legs \u2013 there\u2019s nothing underneath them, save for the ground 1,500 feet below.<\/p>\n
What I\u2019m about to do does not make sense.<\/p>\n
It is unnatural.<\/p>\n
It is terrifying.<\/i><\/p>\n
But it\u2019s what I have to do.<\/b><\/p>\n
I push myself up and out.\u00a0 The second it takes to exit the aircraft feels like eternity.<\/p>\n
My body falls to the earth.<\/p>\n
My gut sucks up into my chest.<\/p>\n
I watch the world race toward me.\u00a0 I want to close my eyes but I can\u2019t \u2013 if my chute tangles, I only have a few seconds to fix it or pull the reserve before I hit the ground.<\/p>\n
A moment later my body is jerked backward as the static line hits length and my chute deploys.<\/p>\n
No tangles.<\/i>\u00a0 I\u2019m good.<\/p>\n
I float in the air for a moment and finally my heart stops racing.\u00a0 For the first time since I boarded the helicopter 15 minutes earlier, I can relax.<\/p>\n
And believe it or not, I actually enjoy the descent.<\/p>\n
*\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the morning of December 31, 2013.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sitting in a Starbucks in Serpong, Indonesia (just outside of Jakarta<\/a>).\u00a0 Courtney is teaching yoga<\/a> in the studio two floors above me (I\u2019m not skipping practice, I promise \u2013 I take class in the evening).<\/p>\n As I sip on an iced Americano (only 25,000 Rupiah!), I reflect on the past year and the new one to come:<\/p>\n What will 2014 bring?<\/i><\/p>\n What will I do with my time?<\/i><\/p>\n What will I create?<\/i><\/p>\n But most of all, I wonder, when I look back this time next year (the end of 2014, beginning of 2015), will I be proud of what I\u2019ve done, will I have let my hands go<\/a>, will I have given 100%...<\/p>\n Or\u2026<\/p>\n Or will I regret the opportunities not taken because I was too scared, will I have kept my hands too tight for fear of the counter-punch, will I have given less than I\u2019m capable?<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n If you\u2019re scared of heights, sitting on the side of a Blackhawk helicopter as it takes a turn at full speed is the second most upsetting experience in the world.<\/p>\n The first is jumping out of one.<\/p>\n Trust me, I know \u2013 I\u2019m scared of heights and I\u2019ve done it more than once.<\/p>\n As we enter 2014, each of us will be presented with a thousand new opportunities and a thousand new choices.<\/p>\n How will you spend your time?\u00a0 What will you create?\u00a0 Who will you impact?<\/i><\/p>\n Many (if not all) of the most important choices we have to make this year will feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 They\u2019ll feel unnatural.\u00a0 They may even terrify us.<\/p>\n But here\u2019s the thing: whether you like it or not, you\u2019re already sitting on the edge of a Blackhawk moving full speed to the drop zone.<\/em><\/p>\n By the nature of you being alive in this moment, ready to welcome a new year, you\u2019ve been given the preparatory-command: 30 seconds.<\/strong><\/p>\n Your body might shake at the prospect, but in a split second, you\u2019re going to have to push yourself out of the helicopter, under your own volition.\u00a0 No one can make the jump for you.\u00a0 There are no substitutes in an airborne operation \u2013 and no substitutes in our own lives for the important choices we need to make.<\/p>\n So if I can leave you with just one thought for 2014 and all the choices you\u2019ll have to make this year it\u2019s this:<\/p>\n Take the jump.<\/p>\n It may be uncomfortable, unnatural and terrifying, but who knows \u2013 when the initial shock wears off, you might actually enjoy the descent.<\/p>\n ---<\/p>\n Started in a Starbucks in Serpong, Indonesia.\u00a0 Finished and shipped in our 20 square foot kost down the road.<\/i><\/p>\n Total writing time: 5 hours<\/i><\/p>\n p.s. I'm getting ready to ship the first publication out of my boutique publishing company, Insurgent Publishing. \u00a0It's a business and arts journal called The Creative Entrepreneur<\/a>. \u00a0If you're an aspiring entrepreneur, artist or writer, I encourage you to subscribe. \u00a0It's donation based starting at only $1 per issue ($2 \/ year - less than a Starbucks coffee), and a portion of the proceeds go to Kiva.org to help fund entrepreneurs in developing countries. \u00a0Check it out<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"learn](\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/learn-from-the-best-in-the-world.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"