Tree Climbing

Today I am going into the memory bank of my life...

When I was young I used to be awesome at climbing trees. Looking back now I perchance remember me being a better climber then I actually ever was… but nevertheless I recall getting myself up into a lot of trees and just hanging out there and having an awesome time. Sometimes I would climb with others, sometimes I would climb by myself and then wave down at the suckers that weren’t being super awesome up in the tree, like me. Now… here’s the unfortunate thing I was not good at: Climbing OUT of trees.

Yes, I was that cat child that would climb trees and then panic and not know how to get down. Throw a little dramatic into the mix and I was the child that would have to jump out of the tree practically breaking my leg every time, demanding someone to get my dad to catch me, or declaring that I was just going to live in that tree forever (or giving it serious thought anyway). Since I am not writing this from a tree you can all breathe easy knowing that I got out of every single tree... with little to no wounds beyond some minor emotional trauma. No big deal.

Life Lesson: It’s easy to climb into a tree. It’s a lot more difficult and scary getting OUT of the same tree.

And while I was thinking about this life lesson of COURSE I thought about how this relates to other things and this is the deep brain thought that came upon me.

Sherylynn’s Deep Thought Time: It’s easy to get into a bad relationship. It’s a lot more difficult and scary to get OUT of that relationship. Sometimes the adventure of the relationship is so great that all of a sudden you realize one day that you are stuck in it and you have no idea how to get out. Do you just jump out and hope you don’t break your heart? Do you find a rebound relationship and just get someone else to catch you? Do you retrace and undo all your steps and hope it gets you out of the relationship? Do you just stay in the relationship even though it gets you no where?

Sometimes you have to put yourself through a little bit of pain to find freedom. 

If you have limited mobility (physically, emotionally, spiritually) and constantly fear the fact that you are stuck in a relationship, not knowing if you are going to get pushed out one day or fall out another day, your heart is constantly going to be beating faster as you look down at the ‘ground’ at how far away it seems. A mix of fear and longing imprinted on your heart. Similarly, sometimes you just have to jump out of that tree and feel that tingly pain in your legs because it is not beneficial to live in a tree forever. It’s just not.

I think good, healthy relationships are kept at ground level. A level that you can’t be pushed out of or fear falling out of. Ground level is safe and secure, a level easily committed to and still capable of crazy fun adventures. 

Friends, try not to get stuck in a tree.

Jumping back to my childhood memory: I don’t recall how many times he saved me but I am so grateful that I have a dad that would come and catch me out of those trees. I am also very grateful that I wasn’t a REALLY good tree climber as I imagine I would still be sitting on top of an extremely tall tree somewhere, chilling with an eagles nest.