Everyone Needs a Trampoline
Hi.
I’m thrilled to be here, mainly because I didn’t jump off a building last week.
That’s a win. That’s my bar now.
Some people wake up and chase excellence and hustle shit.
I wake up and go,
“Not today, gravity.”
We’ve all seen the headlines, haven’t we?
"A student jumps from 56-storey building in Manila."
"A man found moments after a fatal leap at the Old site, Baguio City."
The world reads those and sighs. “Tragic.” “Mental health matters.” “Thoughts and Prayers.”
Then they scroll back to videos of kids falling on their faces.
Because that’s how we deal now:
Existential crisis at breakfast.
Silly TikTok by lunch.
But no one ever asks the real question:
What if they just needed a trampoline?
Literal. And Figurative. Trampolines.
Let me explain.
A trampoline is that magical thing that says:
“You can fall, my dude... but we’re not letting you splat.”
It’s the soft bounce back into your miserable, confusing, often ridiculous life.
Not to fix it.
Not to heal you.
Just to give you one more shot at faking it like the rest of us.
Let’s Talk About the Real Reasons People Jump
Some jumps are protests.
Some are art pieces.
Some are high-stakes science experiments in the absurd level of curiosity.
And then there are those who are just bored.
Not broken. Not traumatized. Just… existentially bored.
Like: “I’ve seen all of Netflix. What now?”
We romanticize them in headlines.
But what if we stopped glorifying the jump
… and started funding trampolines?
Literal ones, for sure. (Mental health gyms with a bounce section? Patent pending.)
But more importantly: metaphorical ones.
Humans don't need permission to have a “WTF Phase.”
Let them fail weird.
Let them question reality without being sedated.
And if only there was a trampoline waiting at the bottom…
We could bounce them back up and say:
“Hey. That was poetic. But you good?”
“Wanna grab an icecream and unpack your symbolic rage?”
The Bounce Theory™
Not to be confused with Big Bounce Theory. I've almost jumped into a spiraling autistic deep dive on that.
Anyway... The Bounce Theory™
Let me give you a formula:
- Life will throw you off a cliff.
- The ground does not care.
- Society will livestream your fall.
- And your mom will find out via a push notification.
So you’d better have something that bounces.
Music. Chaos. Baking shows.
A reason, no matter how absurd, to say:
“I’ll fall. But not today. Not like that. Naur.”
Trampolines Are Not Fixes. They’re Distractions With Elasticity.
They don’t solve your existential crisis.
They just… delay it.
And sometimes that’s enough.
That’s all you need... a soft delay.
Enough time to realize:
- The pain might pass.
- The rage might burn out.
- Or you might just forget what you were upset about because you saw a duck wearing a tiny cowboy hat.
My Trampoline? Writing whatever this is.
Yep.
This right here is my trampoline.
Not because I have wisdom.
But because I needed a reason to not disappear today.
And if I can bounce back with one stupid idea...
You can too.
So, here’s the ask: Build Your Trampoline.
I’m not a therapist. I’m not enlightened. I’m someone who's watched too many people hit the ground...physically, emotionally, and financially. Without anything soft to land on.
So no, I’m not here to stop anyone from jumping.
I’m just asking:
Could we at least make sure they have the option to bounce?
Build it before the fall.
Build it with duct tape, bad jokes, Reddit threads, conspiracy podcasts, hot sauce, dog memes...
whatever the hell keeps you airborne.
We don’t need fewer people jumping.
We need more people bouncing.
So when the fall comes, and it will...
Make sure you’ve got a trampoline waiting at the bottom.