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Attempting Flight: Upside-down without a net
Attempting Flight is written in Jongen's characteristically raw and candid style. Juggling her roles as a single mother of three and busy entrepreneur, Jongen struggles with issues of abandonment and self-esteem. Coping with the stigma of her daughter's chronic illness and her own hospitalization for a life-threatening condition, she perseveres-gaining perspective in unexpected gestures of love. She finds humor in embarrassing moments, and new confidence through conscious efforts to fly. Attempting Flight will help anyone on a journey toward self.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 30, 2012
27 January 2012:
"... when the outer shell hardens to protect a fragile interior."
"How do I expose gut-wrenching rage without soliciting a, 'what happened to her?' response ..."
"the transformation from crawling to walking is awkward at best. The thought of flying seems light years away."
"Now my adult butterfly has had that same, unwelcome pause between the shedding of its cocoon and the discovery of her wings."
"I feel conspicuous as I wobble around. Lacking confidence, I have no idea if I'm even a candidate for flying."
"Squirming on the ground in agony was simply not in the mental picture."
"All the while the little girl in me holds tight to her fears of abandonment. It is real. It is a black-jagged stone, gripped within her tiny hand."
"Maybe this is how God works. He starts in my own heart, healing my own soul, using my own voice, simultaneously reminding me that not leaving myself is the same as not leaving Him. And He will never leave me, because I am of Him. Our breath is the same and we are one."
"There is a great, big, beautiful world out there, and I can't see it or bring it inside. I feel like an empty shell. I can't feel anything ... except fire."
"I have had brutal arguments with God. Plenty of them. I agreed to go to school. I agreed to be a student, but I didn't sign up for the advanced course."
note: feeling finished. I won't strive/study anymore ...
"I am afraid all of these fears are irrelevant because, ultimately, it is too late."
"Rebuilding has, and continues to be a day-by-day process in which I try to balance my center, while my ego wants to cling to the past and agonize about the future. The tension and stress of my life had gone largely unspoken by me, but was physically visible everywhere. Continued feelings of loss and isolation were building within an overwhelming grief I couldn't express."
"It is not like feeling sad. It is like feeling dead."
"I forced myself to do what was required, but my soul's light had gone out. I was an empty shell and believed I would always be that way."
"... when the outer shell hardens to protect a fragile interior."
"How do I expose gut-wrenching rage without soliciting a, 'what happened to her?' response ..."
"the transformation from crawling to walking is awkward at best. The thought of flying seems light years away."
"Now my adult butterfly has had that same, unwelcome pause between the shedding of its cocoon and the discovery of her wings."
"I feel conspicuous as I wobble around. Lacking confidence, I have no idea if I'm even a candidate for flying."
"Squirming on the ground in agony was simply not in the mental picture."
"All the while the little girl in me holds tight to her fears of abandonment. It is real. It is a black-jagged stone, gripped within her tiny hand."
"Maybe this is how God works. He starts in my own heart, healing my own soul, using my own voice, simultaneously reminding me that not leaving myself is the same as not leaving Him. And He will never leave me, because I am of Him. Our breath is the same and we are one."
"There is a great, big, beautiful world out there, and I can't see it or bring it inside. I feel like an empty shell. I can't feel anything ... except fire."
"I have had brutal arguments with God. Plenty of them. I agreed to go to school. I agreed to be a student, but I didn't sign up for the advanced course."
note: feeling finished. I won't strive/study anymore ...
"I am afraid all of these fears are irrelevant because, ultimately, it is too late."
"Rebuilding has, and continues to be a day-by-day process in which I try to balance my center, while my ego wants to cling to the past and agonize about the future. The tension and stress of my life had gone largely unspoken by me, but was physically visible everywhere. Continued feelings of loss and isolation were building within an overwhelming grief I couldn't express."
"It is not like feeling sad. It is like feeling dead."
"I forced myself to do what was required, but my soul's light had gone out. I was an empty shell and believed I would always be that way."
Displaying 1 of 1 review