There isn’t a specific story to tell you about connected to this week’s blog. It’s been influenced by perhaps a few years of lessons that keep peeking around a corner and reminding me quietly. Sometimes my enthusiasm can get the best of me and I can dive into waters before knowing how deep they run or ensuring I know how to swim them. Does this sound familiar to you, too? Add to it the stubbornness of a Greek and notorious pig-headed nature to refuse I’m wrong inherent with being an only child and Aries at that… and sometimes it is hard to see the obvious when you’re clouded by your own certainty. However wrong it may be.
What’s that expression… one step forward, two steps back? I offer a much more forgiving alternative for consideration: Two soft steps backward to propel you one hearty leap forward.
Many of us operate on auto-pilot. In our work, in our relationships, in our families, in our health. Some flashing lights around me impacting good friends have been beacons that leaving it in idle may not be such a good thing. Life always has the upper hand to surprise us whenever it feels like it. It can leave us in puddles of joy or pools of sadness, and usually somewhere in the middle wading through waves. Whether we choose to sink or swim is entirely up to us. Best to keep our floaties within reach at all times.
A writer learns the hard way after many early mistakes that if they don’t hold out their copy far enough away from them, they won’t be able to proof it accurately or more importantly, assess its value at capturing the mood, the meaningfulness and the message they hope to convey. No, the only way you can look at anything microscopically is to hold it far enough away and study it telescopically. Isn’t it funny how that works? We can be much too close to our words, to our decisions, to our lives, so that it obscures our vision. We must see it from a distance in a way that sheds light on what could be better…more fulfilling. That distance is what really can bring it into focus.
Therefore, my suggestion for today: a softly, gently, tip-toed TWO STEPS BACK.
It’s the only way to see if you are where you should be. To go back. But by all means, do pass GO and collect your $200. That board game is just cruel anyway. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that I play it so poorly and therefore dislike it immensely. Heh.)
No, it’s okay to go back.
Really, it is.
Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Remind yourself where you started because how else will you appreciate where your journey has taken you?
Conscious steps. Take a few of them today, and perhaps the direction may not be forward but instead backward for you, too. It’s not an obstacle to progress. Quite the contrary. It could be exactly what the next leg of your journey needs to jettison you into another fabulous phase of YOU.
Happy Friday, my friends. *blows you a kiss* I have fantasy film viewing to do (but a little work first) as I celebrate a special someone’s birthday today. Make it a wonderful weekend. ~ Chris
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