ThImagine that you are Jane. Imagine the jungle of life is a literal jungle. You admit that you have a pretty good life. You have a lovely tree house and you love Tarzan. But you’ve come to realize that you want to take control over the direction of your life. Love is great and all – yet you know that you don’t want rely 
upon Tarzan for everything.
I mean, let’s face it: living in the tree, while safe and fun can honestly be a little boring.
Your heart tells you that you can explore, learn and embrace the beautiful life around you. In fact, your heart insists that while it’s nice for Tarzan and Cheetah and everyone else to like you, what’s most important is your opinion of yourself.
Listen to your heart, darling, Jane. Muster up your courage, grab a vine, and begin swinging through the jungle.
As you begin exploring the jungle, you first only change vines when you can touch the next vine in your route. You build upon your courage and realize that you can take bolder actions. You want to explore more of the jungle and this means soaring through the air and reaching for a vine that’s further away. In order to explore further, you find that sometimes you have to let go of the vine in your hand without being able to see the next vine. You just have to know that it’s there.
But this isn’t the jungle, baby. The jungle of life is the whole world. And this, my dear is your life.
And to live a life that you love, means that sometimes, darling, you just have to take a giant leap of faith.
Your mind will say all kinds of mean things to you meant to keep you in the tree. The tree is familiar. It’s safe. You know exactly what to expect while you stay in the tree. Yep, your inner lizard wants you to play small and never change. Your Inner Critic may chime in and say “Didn’t you say you wanted a hunky man to take care of you? Are you strong enough to swing out and explore on your own? Are you worth the risk of exploring?
The jungle of life is calling for you to create a big vision and explore what that means.
And let’s be clear, sweetheart: whatever vision you have, it’s worth exploring. Because you are worth it.
Take it from me. I was once like Jane in the Tree. Then, I discovered that deep inside, my heart was crying out for me to be my true self: Warrior Jane. I learned to go through life on faith. Faith has led me to embrace my passions, find my courage, discover true love, wrestle with forgiveness, and fall head over heels in love with my life.
You have a choice, darling: you can stay in the tree and cling to a single vine of your current existence. Or.
You can swing out as far as you are able, take a flying leap and embrace what’s it’s like to live fully.
You desire and deserve a life that feeds your soul. You deserve to leave behind what drains your energy. You deserve to embrace love. To leave behind you living small, regrets, and the pieces of your broken heart that is strewn upon the floor of your past. You deserve to let go of the self-image of a person who doesn’t deserve happiness or love.
For you deserve the most powerful love of all: the love of yourself.
Choose love over fear.
Discover that even when the vines of life seem too far apart, your heart will know that the next vine is there waiting for you. Embrace your life. Embrace faith.
Discover who you really are – and what you really desire.
[hr]
The jungle of life is calling you to create your vision. Isn’t it time to take that leap of faith?
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Hi deb,
I’m definitely Jane today. Just finished a nice 10 mile training run:)
Woohoo! I love this post!
Dianna
Whooo Hoooo! I LOVE hearing that. You ROCK!
As someone who has grabbed for the vine and fallen on her ass more times than I can count, Warrior Jane also learns that she can love herself MORE in all of her mistakes and imperfections as she gains the skills and knowledge she needs to move along her true path.
The other part of this story is leaving Tarzan behind–do we always need to? The post made me think of the Lillian Hellman quote: “People change and forget to tell each other.” Tarzan might be able to make the switch from big, shiny alpha male to supportive alpha male, we never know.
I’ll be totally honest, Mindy – I think that Tarzan fell in love with Warrior Jane – deep down he always knew she had a lovely gentle strength. A relationship is more likely to fall apart when people aren’t true to who they really are – at least in my personal opinion, experiences and observations.
And yep, a vine slipping out of the hand and needing to climb back up is where we discover more and more of what we want, what we don’t want, and where our true path lies!
Ha! I so agree with you Debra! I was so confident and strong when I met my husband. I’ve lost and regained it along the way. I see my husband respond so positively when I’m doing what I love. 🙂
You’ve hit the nail right on the head, Katie: our partners only want us to be ourselves!
This is so important, but also hard for me to do. Trusting that the next vine will appear is not my strong suit! But it is something I consciously try to practice. For me right now, the “next vine” is finding more clients. So I’m taking actions that will hopefully lead to that end, but I can’t know for sure what, when, or how it will work. But I’m maintaining faith that it will come together somehow!
I hear you, Sister! Maintaining our faith in ourselves is challenging – but also one of the most rewarding things we can do.
Debra,
Awesome analogy. We always fear what we don’t see, but we’ll never see/experience what’s out there if we don’t leap, even if it’s a small one!
I’m a big believer if standing on your own first. To that end, I’m following my intuition to get creative with my business!
Thank you, Cindy – and HOORAY for you! Following your intuition is key, isn’t it?
What a cool analogy. I’ve done it all, grabbing for the vine and falling on my ass, just staying in the tree, grabbing the vine and hanging there in midair – closest tree just out of reach. And even though it hurts to fall, or is scary to grab that vine, or so lonely helpless-y hovering in mid-air, going through all that is what makes us so much more creative, strong and confident. Knowing that you might fall or hover in midair and knowing that you’ll handle it.
Thank you, An.
It’s knowing that at every possible stage – grabbing, falling, hanging in the tree, or joyfully swinging in mid-air – we will grow stronger. It’s much better to try, even if we fail and need to try again, than it is never having lived!
I love the way you presented this Debra. I choose to keep reaching for the next vine, no matter how scary it is sometimes.
Thanks so much, Katie!
Jane,
You got one heck of a way with words!
How’d you get so smart hanging out in the jungle and all?
My hunch is it’s your love over fear!
Hugs.
Thank you, darling Blaze. And you nailed it: It’s all about LOVE, baby!