I just want to do hood rat stuff with my friends

I used to explore abandoned buildings, swim in pools at empty houses, climb cranes like this one, ignore no trespassing signs and a lot of other sliiiiiightly questionable activities.

It was fun and exciting and we were pushing our comfort zones. Taking risks, feeling the rush and creating memories.

And though I still feel like I have an above-average rate of experience collecting, lately I feel like I haven’t been living up to my potential for doing hoodrat stuff.

Jumping Off a Bridge

I was out kayaking on Lady Bird Lake with some friends and we were headed for the cove. The Butler Hike and Bike Trail cuts through this whole area, crossing the water of the cove.

As we approached, a couple of girls and their mom were getting ready to jump off the bridge.

I immediately was jealous… and immediately knew I wanted to backflip.

They were jumping from the bottom part, but the bridge extended even higher… that’s where I wanted to jump from.

After jumping out of my kayak and failing to grab the bottom bridge beam, I swam to shore, walked out on the bridge and climbed to the top.

It’s been a minuteeeeee since I’ve back flipped off anything and I’m not going to lie, I was nervous.

It was only about 18ft up so definitely not too high, but standing there thinking about the process, I got the butterflies 🦋

Sadly, it’s been wayyyyyy too long since I’ve had that feeling.

“Chase the butterflies” is one of my go-to phrases because that feeling really is the best compass. When you’re scared, nervous, there’s risk and you’re trying something new, the butterflies are full speed and that means you’re headed in the right direction.

SOAK. IN. THAT. FEELING.

Learn to love it. When it happens, feel it as much as you can. Embrace it, sit in it, take some deep breaths and let it rush all the way through you.

That’s what I did on the bridge. I was scared, and I let myself be scared. I breathed deeply.

Flutters….

And then I sent it.

I’m reading “Third Door” by Alex Banayan, a story about a 19-year-old that sets out to interview all these famously successful people so they can help him figure out his life.

He ends up taking tons of risks like hacking his way onto Price is Right, meeting a founder and then flying out the next day with him to London, sneaking into a fundraiser to meet Spielberg and other hood rat activities.

It makes me jealous.

I want to go back to doing more of that.

Jumping off things, sneaking into places, tiptoeing the line of “what happens if we get caught?”. I think I’m going to start with an Impossible List.

Who’s down?