Defying the Weight of Earth

I tried to jump rope in the park this morning, just to get my blood moving before the day started. I haven’t done it in years, and I felt heavy, clumsy, and entirely tethered to the ground. Every time I landed, the impact traveled straight up my shins, reminding me that gravity is a constant, demanding partner. We spend so much of our lives trying to keep our feet planted, seeking stability and firm footing. But there is something deeply human about the desire to leave the earth, even for a heartbeat. It is a rebellion against the pull of the mundane. To be suspended in the air is to exist in a space where no decisions are being made, where you are neither here nor there, just a body in flight. It makes me wonder if we are only truly free in those brief, impossible seconds when we stop fighting the ground and start trusting the air. What does it feel like to let go of the earth entirely?

Ryszard Wierzbicki has captured this feeling perfectly in his image titled Adumu Jumping. It is a beautiful reminder of the power found in that moment of suspension. Does this image make you want to jump, too?