Lean Into Lift Off When You’re Stuck on the Ground

Last fall, I met a couple of good friends from D.C. in Albuquerque for the annual International Balloon Fiesta. (Part of my year-long celebration of turning 50).

Despite torrential rain the few days we were there – which also caused the cancellation of our hot air balloon flight – we ended up having a fabulous experience on the last day of the Fiesta.

Although the weather had coerced many of the ballooners into leaving the Fiesta before the last day, there were still hundreds of balloons that stuck around for the final mass ascension.

What is the “mass ascension?” It’s every bit as uplifting, profound, and joyous as it sounds.

The mass ascension is hundreds of hot air balloons lifting into the sky, several at time, for about an hour. It’s unlike anything you’ll ever witness.

I’m used to seeing about three to five hot air balloons from my backyard in the warmer months here in Colorado. There’s a hot air balloon company not far from here, and every single time I look out my window in the morning and see hot air balloons dotting the sky against the backdrop of the Colorado mountains, it sparks joy.

But this mass ascension was a totally different ballgame. Immeasurable amounts of joy being sparked by this celebratory event.

Words can’t accurately describe what it’s like to watch hundreds of hot air balloons rise from flat nothingness on the ground up to a massive symphony of joyful, floating color sprinkling the sky.

As I basked in the joy of this glorious sight, I couldn’t help but think of a visual that I’ve used many times with my clients.

I often talk to my clients about how we must drop the sandbags that weigh down the balloon and the ropes that tether it to the ground if we want the balloon to lift off.

It doesn’t matter how much hot air is filling up that balloon . . . if that weight and those tethers can’t be dropped, the balloon will never take off . . .

it will never get to experience the lightness that it was made to experience.

What a shame that would be, right? To have a beautifully designed balloon that was meant to drift freely off into the sky be stuck on the ground . . . trapped by weight and ties that bind it to the ground.

That balloon will never get to realize the potential for which it was made.

And at some point, the hot air that fills the balloon to give it the energy to lift off the ground, will run out.

That big, beautiful balloon will slowly lose its air, collapse into itself, and fall back to the ground.

Each of us has our own metaphorical hot air balloon that is waiting to lift off . . .

Waiting to realize its potential – our potential.

But, for so many of us, our balloon is stuck on the ground.

Weighed down and tethered to the ground.

Who out there feels like you’re weighed down?

Or like you’re tethered to people or situations that keep you stuck on the ground?

Like you’re using all this hot air – all your energy – to try to lift off . . .

to lift off into the potential that you were meant for . . .

but you’re not getting off the ground?

Oomph . . . if that’s you, I hear you.

For so many years, I felt like my balloon was stuck on the ground.

Weighed down by stories that I’d believed all my life about how I was supposed to act . . .

what I was supposed to do . . .

how I was supposed to look . . .

what a “successful” life was supposed to look like.

Stories about money that felt like the weight of world on my shoulders.

Stories about other people in the world, in my community, and in my life, that kept me weighed down with judgment or ignorance about them.

I was tethered to people and situations that I believed I had to stay tied to . . .

family members who I felt obligated to be around even though doing so took a big toll on me . . .

co-dependent relationships that I stayed tied to because I felt like it was my job to “help” or “save” them . . .

a job that I stayed tied to because it was a “stable government job with benefits” and I’d be crazy to leave it . . .

and a lifetime of participating in the imperialist, capitalist, white-body supremacy, patriarchal system of oppression because I was tied to my privilege and the comfort of pretending that I wasn’t racist.

The balloon that was and is my potential, sat weighed down and tethered to the ground for decades . . .

and my fuel to keep that balloon inflated was gradually running out.

I could feel that balloon – my potential – collapsing into myself.

Fortunately for me, I found ways to drop that weight and cut those ties, so that I could finally lift off . . .

so that my potential could be free.

Unlike the balloons at the Fiesta though, I didn’t drop that weight or cut those ties all at once . . .

it happened gradually.

And my lift off hasn’t been graceful!

But I’m slowly rising.

I feel myself getting lighter, freer, day by day . . .

and it started by learning how to drop a little weight and one tether at a time . . . .

So, what do you feel is weighing you down?

Reflect to yourself or write in a journal, all the things that feel heavy to you . . .

the burdens . . .

the weights on your shoulders.

Be honest . . . yes, some of those weights may be hard to admit. And some of them, you may never want to drop even though they’re heavy.

The point here is to lean into dropping the weight that you can.

Pick one, small weight, and imagine what your life would be like if you could drop that tiny bit of weight. How would that feel?

Then imagine what might get in the way of you dropping that weight. Is that obstacle one that you can handle or address. If so, how?

And then brainstorm some ideas for taking small steps to drop that weight and face any obstacles in the way.

Yes, I invite you to write those steps down . . . speak them into the universe. There’s power in getting those steps out of your head.

Maybe that sounds trite or cliché . . . too simple, or too annoying.

Yes, that may all be true . . . and, even so, this trite, cliché, simple, annoying shit works.

Acknowledging the weight that’s keeping you on the ground and then leaning into how you can drop that weight, is how you gradually start to lift off.

You can do the same thing with anything that you feel has tethered you to the ground . . . tethered you to where you are in life.

Lean into dropping one of those tethers.

Maybe there’s a toxic or challenging relationship that it’s time for you to let go . . .

or a hard conversation about finances to have with yourself or your partner so that you don’t feel so tied to your salary or what you buy . . .

or something on your never-ending to-do list that needs to be delegated or let go entirely.

Pick one, small tether that you want to drop . . .

imagine what life would be like and feel like if you dropped it . . .

acknowledge what obstacles could get in the way of that . . .

and then come up with some small steps for dropping that tether and facing any obstacles.

(Sidenote: yes, there are some weights and ties in life that realistically will always exist - like taking care of children or paying your bills. There are ways to shift how we think about those kinds of “obligations” so that they don’t feel heavy or restrictive, but I’ll save that for another time. Hint: it concerns values. So, for now, I invite you to consider other weights or ties that are more reasonable to drop).

Hot air balloons aren’t based on rocket science . . . otherwise they’d be rockets!

They’re based on a fairly simple scientific principle: hot air allows a balloon to lift off the ground.

Allowing yourself to (metaphorically) lift off the ground isn’t rocket science.

The weight holding you down isn’t fused to you . . . it’s possible to drop it.

And the ties that bind you aren’t made of kryptonite . . . they can be cut.

The balloon that is your potential is waiting for you to let it lift off the ground . . .

And trust me when I say that when you do, the view from above will be worth it.