Feeling Stuck? Need an Imagination Spark? Try Taking a Drop Into the Ether by Skydiving

Air is definitely my element, with water being a close second. I love everything about the sky. The vast openness of it, how you can see for miles across an empty plain, its perfection as a canvas for wandering clouds and fleeting rainbows. Climbing to the top of a tall hill and feeling the wind whip across my face. Camping under its blanket of shooting stars and steady planets. I like flying in airplanes, used to be a flight attendant, and have thought about getting my helicopter pilot’s license more than once over the years. I take pictures of sunsets every chance I get, my dream home is a towering treehouse overlooking the ocean, and heck even this website is named after a structure that hovers in the air.

And of course I dream about flying. In fact, I’ve dreamed about flying so often I thought that I already knew what it felt like to fly. I assumed I must have been a bird in a former life and believed I understood exactly how it would feel to drift in the breeze thousands of feet in the air. Until I went skydiving recently and found out that I didn’t know the half of it. It is, in a word, incredible. In a few more words: peaceful, thrilling, serene, fun, surreal, breathtaking, yin/yang.

Skydiving has been on my list of things to do for as long as I can remember. Why it took me so long to accomplish I’m not sure, but I guess timing really is everything. In any case, the entire experience reminded me that knocking something off the ole’ bucket list is a great way to get the creative juices flowing, especially if you’ve been in a rut.

If you have something you’ve been wanting to do, regardless of how big or little it is, go do it. Jump out of a plane. Take that dream vacation. Join the team. Ask out the girl. Whatever it is, just get on it. Now. I guarantee the experience will make you feel brave, inspired, and provide you with material for your next artistic creation. And you never know – you might just find your new life passion while you’re at it.

Natasha Ganes is the co-founding editor of TreeHouse Arts. She is a graduate of Chapman University in Southern California, where she received her MFA in Creative Writing and MA in English Literature. She received her BA in English/Journalism from Madonna University in Michigan. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Muddy River Poetry Review, Pyrokinection, quarter after, Elephant Tree, Poetry Pacific, No Strings Attached, and Every Writer’s Resource. Her nonfiction has appeared all over the place. Follow her IG (TMuffet) or visit her website: http://natashaganes.com