Falling

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