Learn to fly
By Lonneke — January 25, 2017 10:56 am
Jetpack Worldwide is about creativity and play, taking chances and seeing where it gets you. We took off in 2015 with a year of traveling the world with our 3 awesome wingmen, wasting time on the better things in life.
As a symbol for our mindset, we have chosen a jetpack: everybody knows how exciting this unstable means of transport is - failure is a serious option, but things could also take off! It's fun - it's uncertain, unreliable, scary as hell, but a blast. Like most valuable things in life, it isn't necessarily easy, but this adds to the profoundness of your experiences. If you take the leap, it could take you places, provide you with broader views and evoke new insights and fresh, airy thoughts. Fear needs to be faced, obstacles to be anticipated, hard landings to be accepted. It all boils down to the question: do I take action, do I take matters in my own hand and take a risk? We need to give new meaning to the word 'failure', we can call it trying, giving it a shot, taking chances. Not everything needs to work out perfect, every experience is valuable, a lesson. When we learn how to walk, it's alright to fall: that's how we train ourselves into doing a better job, so one day we can run.
Bearing all this in mind, we embarked our journey. And boy did we stumble and fall, as well as soar high through the sky. By being vulnerable, you invite oomph into your life, much more so than would happen when you stay in your routine. By being out there, you experience life, in all it's chaos and glory and fullness. By unravelling your persona, you welcome true interaction.
We've crafted jetpacks with our boys before we went on our worldtrip and have made them during our travels also. Milk cartons, honeypots, Vietnamese lanterns, waterbottles and their backpacks have been their rocket engines.
In May 2016 we crafted 37 jetpacks with the children of the Window to the World school in Kalibukbuk, Bali, Indonesia, which was a true joy and this sparked our fire to continue this project into the future, at different schools, with different participants. It's our way of giving a little back for the overwhelming amount of life lessons we received during our travels.
It's important to keep on leaping; once is not enough. You gotta rise again and again, for everything is motion and what goes up must come down, and then back up again. Maybe even leap within a leap, surge yourself into new altitudes - 'cause even when you're living your dream, you sometimes get complacent, which should be an immediate red flag for you to keep on going.
Travelling is about connection: to yourself, to the people around you and to this earth we live on. Of course, there are many other ways to take a leap and be brave, like bringing your art into the world or surrendering to a slower pace.
The world is your playground, humankind is not limited by borders, only thoughts are. Just be, with your jetpack to steer and the world to discover. It's gonna be a helluva ride!
