The Leap.

By Katie Scoble.



The leap.

I had an empty room in my house for a long time. People would enquire what it was for. I would say it was for storage. Which wasn’t a complete lie. But at night after I tucked my children to bed I would stand in that empty room and imagine what it could be.

To the outside world it was just a room. A small dusty space with four walls. But to me it was so much more. 

Written on those walls was another version of myself. A version where I wasn’t just mum. 

In that room, lay the foundation of a dream. 

For me it simply held... Possibility.

For my friend Tegan and I that was all our cake business was for a long time. 

A possibility. A dream. A “what if” on the horizon. 

I know so many women who look to this horizon. Often we try not to scratch the itch. After all, we are taught to practice gratitude. To live our lives and be #grateful.

But beyond our gratitude, behind the polite smile, is an entire backstory of a woman’s ambition. 

We plan. We dream. We make lists. We wait.. 

Because now is never the right time. 

We have to wait until we are in a better place financially. Till we are settled somewhere. Till our partners are in a stable place. Till our children are less dependent on us. 

Till we have all of our ducks in a row. 

We wait until we are asked to step up to the plate. Until we are educated. Until we have the next qualification and skill set in place. Until we are worthy. 

Then we double check, we test it out. We start on the bottom of the rope so we can climb our way up to the top. And then we cautiously lower ourselves over the edge. But we are not encouraged to leap. So we wait until we feel worthy. Or we wait until we are pushed. 

I had a conversation with a man recently. He was applying for a promotion for a job he had only been at for a couple of months. 

“Aren’t you worried? Why even apply? Why not wait a while?” I asked.

“Nah” he replied. “I’ll learn once I’m there. Anyway I may as well throw my hat in the ring.” 

I marvelled at his boldness. I had never dared to throw my hat in. Not unless that hat is so well worn and my aim was so practiced that I knew it would land. 

Tegan and I had a vision and a plan on the horizon. We didn’t know when but we pencilled it in for “one day.” Combined, all we had was my love for baking, her incredible decorating talent and an empty room. 

Tegan was already a talented decorator; she was in a place of ease and comfort. She knew her role and she performed it well. She had the tasks of a manager and grew to have complete confidence in her abilities. Her skill set advanced, her tasks increased. 

Her pay did not. 

But she had a stable job decorating cakes, which she loved to do. 

Most people don’t have the joy to do what they love. It’s a privilege. She was grateful. 

Climbing her way up the ladder, harnessing her skills. She soon realised she had reached the top. There was nowhere left to climb.

So when we reach the top, why don’t we leap? Perhaps it’s because as young girls we have long been socialized to not disrupt, brag, or push back in the first place, we should be happy to be where we are. Don’t rock the boat. Don’t be bossy. Don’t be demanding. 

We should just be grateful. 

And so Tegan and I stood still. 

Me in my empty room. Tegan at the top of her ladder. 

We had more reasons not to leap.

You will always have more reasons not to. 

There is rarely a safety net. 

We had no money. We had no time. 

Just a vision, a dream and gratitude. 

I don’t know any men that use gratitude journals or dream diaries. And I don’t believe this isn’t because they don’t have dreams and they aren’t grateful. 

It’s because they spend less time being content and more time planning and throwing their hats into the ring. 

Perhaps it’s our time spent seeking eternal gratitude that clips our wings and dampens our ambition. Because we feel like we should just settle for contentment. 

Perhaps we are so sold on our obsession to be mindful and present that we don’t strive for the future. 

We stay in the moment. We don’t allow room for negotiation on our dreams.

Eventually Tegan and I didn’t leap, but thankfully, we were pushed. 

The air filled our lungs and we seized the opportunity and ran. 

Amazingly once we were committed, all the reasons we couldn’t do it before, suddenly became possible, achievable. People believed in us and helped us steer forward and we allowed our ambition to take the wheel. It was exhilarating, scary, hard, slow but most of all- it was worth it. 

Because even if we fail, we will have no regrets. 

We threw our hats in, along with our heads and hearts. It was the best decision we could have made. 

Tegan is now able to build her own ladder. One that had no end, just extra steps created with new innovation and ideas. 

And I no longer have an empty room. 

Sometimes after I tuck my children into bed, I still stand in that room. 

I look at the gleaming bench tops and the tubs full of ingredients. The orders lined up on the wall ready to be filled, to be a part of people’s biggest moments. 

I look around at what we built, what we created.

Because we did not settle for just being grateful.