Stumbling, tripping, slipping – or how about just doing a face-plant?
When you are in a liminal place, on the edge or the verge or perhaps standing in a doorway, you must be cautious. Stepping into new space is always something that should be done thoughtfully, carefully, and maybe even reconsidered before you do it. And I do believe this applies to every age, although maybe age should be part of the equation.
The stuff you have to respond to the changes that will inevitably occur, has changed. For instance, you can’t think at 30 you will take up ballet dancing and succeed. Zelda Fitzgerald tried it. It did not work so well. And at 40, you probably don’t want to decide you would like to learn piano and become a concert pianist – but you might actually find that if you took up piano, you could learn to play. And Zelda did probably learn some new dance moves. But Zelda and the pianist – may have had some moments with ice, heat, and frustration.
Does pain and frustration keep you from trying something new? This sounds pretty off-beat, but then I may have been off-beat from the beginning…but pain and frustration may be what helps us to move. One way or another. Is moving forward what you truly want? Or do you want to stay where you are? If you are truly looking for a door to go through, or a window to open – you probably don’t want to stay where you are. You may be willing to take a little risk. Or a medium or large risk – or maybe even an extra large. And so if you do that, you have to be willing to incorporate the blisters, and the bruises, and the exhaustion that may require. You may find that you have exhausted all your resources, and you need to rest awhile. Of course.
One of the things that has caught my attention lately, is that if you go through a door to look for something, you may find that you have forgotten what you are trying to find. The very act of walking through from one space to another is disorienting, whether it is from your kitchen to your living room or from your back door to the back yard. It is a new perspective, and it happens every single time. You need time to reconsider, or maybe even go back to where you were before you go forward.
I write this because I am going back and forth, inward and outward, towards a new perspective. It’s not easy – and I’ve done a few literal face-plants, stumbles, and run back to what I used to think was a safe place. What I think I now want to try is not being scared of the new, not being afraid if I get bumped, bruised, and find it hard to get up again on my own. I want to keep moving. And so that’s what I think I will keep trying to do. Always remembering that movement isn’t always forward. Making some choices will be required, and those will be what they will be. They will be what is required by me, and not by any thing or anybody else.
