#writedaily Challenge - Day 5

Day 5 - Aplomb

It was always a balancing act.

With one foot poised on a shaky beam, he reached towards the next. He created his own urgency.

He recalled the sense of falling backward in a tilted chair. The brief fall did not require a net. This was different.

He pushed downwards, stabilizing the plank with a bent knee. He filled his chest with a short gasp of cold air. He lacked the luxury of doubt, so he lept.

There were always those moments in the space between things. It was never natural -- embracing the void. Still, the last foothold had become weak with use. It had served its purpose until he grew too big for it, his weight pressing down with crackling force.

There was a pattern to growth and he had come to recognize its face. There was the irrational exuberance of new opportunities, the crash of disillusionment when reality overcame ideals, the sluggish plateau requiring methodical discipline, and the next big leap to take with aplomb.

Knowing the process made it possible to jump into the fog, but hardly easier. Still suspended, he floated for a second, wondering if the floating was the point.

No longer departing and yet to arrive, he released himself to nothingness.