The other day I had an interesting experience.
I took a hard fall in the parking lot of our
local shopping center.
What was remarkable
wasn’t the fall itself but my reaction to falling in public.
I was thoroughly embarrassed.
As those around rushed to my aid, I tried to
say I was fine while hurting.
I could barely
look anyone in the eye as I tried to compose myself.
As I contemplated the fall later that day, I had to laugh at
myself as I realized this was a teachable moment and I became both student and
teacher.
For you see I realized that there is no shame when we fall, There’s
is usually a valuable lesson for us to learn about why we fell, mine was simply
not paying attention on what I was doing
only worrying about the next thing on my list.
Yet had I taken a moment to observe my
surroundings I might have had a different outcome.
I also pondered the fact that I was embarrassed because I fell.
Seriously?
Yes, people looked at me.
Oh, the
horror, they rushed over in care and concern.
Yes, once again because I felt that I was
invincible I didn’t want the help.
Truthfully, we all need help some of us just don’t know how to ask for
it or how to receive help graciously when it is given.
It made me think about babies when they are learning to walk.
They crawl, stumble, and fall in the pursuit
of their goal…Learning to walk.
This is
a perfect analogy for life.
Yes we may
need to crawl before we take that first big step, we may stumble on our journey
and trust me, falling almost always seems to be a requirement.
However, if you pick yourself up, take any
help that is offered to you, try again…
You
will rise.
When I'm not afraid to fail, I won’t.
When I'm not afraid to fall down, falling down won't feel like failure. I have
fallen down enough to get more comfortable with it, to know how productive it
can be, how necessary it is to growth. Still, when I sense the ground beneath
me giving way, I have to remind myself that it's OK if I falter. I have to
remind myself that it's more than OK!~Jan Denise
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