As a life coach I’m often across the table or on the phone with a client. The pregnant pause hits the air, and they ask the big question—“What do I do next?”.

Have you ever asked yourself that one? Whether it’s after losing a job, a divorce, a retirement, a death—that big question explodes in our head and our heart.

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But first, I’m going to back the bus up a bit and tell you about how I spent two fabulous days last week.

I signed up for an Escape Adulthood Summit with the most amazing couple I’ve met, Jason and Kim  Kotecki. You can think of it as summer day camp for adults.

Before we ever arrived, we received in the mail a golden ticket. It was a balloon we needed to blow up to discover where we were going. We were directed to a beautiful barn out in the countryside of Madison, WI.

Fun activities abounded. We got to dress one of our table mates as a superhero. Our good sport became, Major Yummy, fighter of all things healthy. Decked out with soda bottles and candy wrappers he had mad super powers.

We had show and tell and heard of one woman’s bucket list dream of standing in a lavender field. She gave us each a sachet of the lavender she brought back.

We had mac and cheese for lunch, and of course it had lobster in it. Then an hour of recess. Kites, inflatable bowling, sling shots to send little duckies into a wading pool, and my favorite–bubbles. Eighty adults enjoying recess. How cool was that. The world would be a better place with more recess.

But, the last session….the last session returned to stage one of our
guest speakers, Kelly Swanson. She had been sharing her story-telling of Pride’s Hallow during our two days together.

Suddenly, white boxes began to appear before each of us. White boxes with red labels saying Adultitis Fighter. “Do not open” was heard.

Kelly started by saying that this story would be about her son. My remembering of her words goes like this:

My son would smile and you’d see that front tooth cracked where his face had met the sidewalk. His hair was golden, but it was cut as it only could be with a six-year-old behind the scissors. And this day he was dressed in his super hero cape and leaping across the living room couch. I said, “Stop, no jumping on the furniture”. And he looked back at me. He smiled that funny toothed grin and said, “Mom, sometimes, you just have to trust the cape!”

As you might have figured out, we opened those white boxes with the red labels and discovered the most amazing red satin cape. We all had capes! And the screams of joy became deafening and the laughter was boundless as we donned our capes and swirled around.

Sometimes you just have to trust the cape!

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So back to my clients. We all have those times when earthquakes have left us dangling on a cliff, not knowing what to do.

What do I suggest? Remember those other cliffs you’ve jumped off of before helps, laughing at life helps and now I also suggest “Sometimes you just have to trust the cape!” Jump, the next step is right in front of you.