Jumping In With Both Feet

There is an old proverb that says leap and the net will appear. Really? Is that a guarantee? If we look back on our lives, what leaps have we taken? Deciding on a college, taking a job out of state, accepting a date because something about the person was interesting or trying something out of our comfort zone? Some of us step gingerly like a kid on ice skates while others take a flying leap off the high dive. Which are you? The timid one, the fearless, or somewhere in the middle. Me? I’m a take-a-flying-leap person with some caution! Have not actually seen that net the proverb assures me is there……

Ages & Stages

As kids, we took chances with a dare from a friend or a playground challenge. In college, we took chances going away from home or going through “rush” (now known as formal recruitment). On a campus of 15,000, I knew the ten women on my floor and was convinced to see what Greek life had to offer. Sixteen years later, I have never regretted taking the leap with both feet, hoping the net appeared! It did in the form of my wonderful chapter sisters of Sigma Kappa. From day one there was instant fun, laughter and acceptance. My leap of faith, trying something I was not sure of, was a leap that would impact me far beyond my four years on campus.

I’m grown up, where is my net?

Now as a “grown” up I reflect on my college choices but never regret the choice to leap into Sigma Kappa. But leaps don’t stop with graduation – there are many more times we are challenged to seek what we desire. Some of us move away from home to pursue a dream career, others for graduate school and some just because it’s a new challenge. As an adult, what leap did you take and what was your net? Sigma Kappa, again, was both my leap and safety net.

In 2003, I was advising a local chapter and had gotten married. I wanted to reconnect with alumnae and decided to surf the Sigma Kappa website and found an alumnae chapter close to where I was living and boldly sent out an email to get information. Within hours I had everything I needed, but was I brave? Brave like I was as a collegian to walk into a room knowing not one soul? This was my leap of faith.  It might sound silly but, really, how many of us willingly go at it alone? We seek out company – a safety net – someone to walk up to and know. For me I ventured out alone, knowing that unlike “rush” I was meeting my sisters, not a room of strange women.

So on a November night, wearing purple (of course!), I bravely walked into a meeting room at the local library and stopped in the doorway.  I looked around and a sense of belonging and familiarity surrounded me. There were ten women all laughing chatting, getting name tags ready and preparing the snack table. Go back to 1995 and this could have been my collegiate chapter before a meeting! I walked in, said “Hi” and immediately was welcomed by each of the women. That night I sat, observed, and socialized. I walked out smiling, knowing that despite not having my best friends down the street as I did growing up, I had found a group of sisters that made my new home more “homey.” Eight years later, I still return month after month to meet with my sisters.  Sigma Kappa was my safety net. Now, as I bring one of my chapter sisters to our meetings, I know she, too, will soon reconnect with our mystic bond.

Have you reached out and found an alumnae group to reconnect? What was your experience being the “newbie?”