Last I checked, non of us are perfect so please, first things first… give yourself grace that you don’t have to have every detail flawless or plans succinctly mapped out, before you ever try attempting any goal.
Like a baby starting to learn to walk, to take that first step, it’s OK to fall. It’s OK not to be successful on that first try. The second, third… millionth try. The key is that they keep at it.
Falling… Laughing.
Falling… Crying.
Falling…. Bemused.
Falling… but they get back up.
All things being equal, as the baby falls… and gets back up, they are building muscle, strengthening their bones, learning how to balance, synergistically coordinate as they continuously explore their environment. They are learning that there’s more to be discovered just from the act of trying.
They have no idea what their goal is in getting up and trying, learning how to walk.
They just move to the beat of their internal drum.
We are the ones with the knowledge that all this rocking, crawling, looking up, trying to pull up, standing up holding on, standing up letting go, taking that first step, is progressing to something bigger… Walking.
Our joy for babies is in their discovery of themselves in their journey towards this ultimate goal.
The battle in our minds is cancelling out the first step before we even try.
We too have similar steps to take towards achieving anything. Yet time and time again, fear comes up as that main culprit keeping us from even starting with that idea, plan, activity, project, etc., we so badly want to start.
Truth be told, taking that first step to overcome the fear, it’s not a one-time phenomenon.
Like a baby, with multiple trials, repetition of practice, we are building character, forming strategies, learning what works and doesn’t towards the end goal we are ultimately trying to achieve. In our minds, we are actually learning how to go back and say, okay, I did this. It didn’t work out. Next time, let me try option B, C, D, or E.
As we go around the merry-go-round of trial and error, we have practical lessons in strategizing towards success. In the process, we learn how to become more resilient. Ultimately, we brand our long-term memory centers in our brains with tangible examples of what this process looks like, lessons learned, to be drawn upon as fuel for another journey, sometime in our near and distant futures.
It’s often in the small mundane repetitive tasks that we end up formulating the building blocks and solutions, the pathways for increased likelihood of success for all the hurdles that life’s challenges bring our way. So that we may ultimately achieve the goals, the reasons we took the first steps for in the first place.
Part of being victorious in mind is taking that first step. That’s why we call it taking baby-steps. One step at a time, till you get your sure footing.
Remind yourself:
You’re not failing yourself if you try.
Live without regrets.
Put yourself in the shoes of your 80, 90 year old body. If you look back to where you currently are right now, what would you tell yourself: “I regret or I don’t regret that I _______.” What is this something that comes into mind that you do not wish to have any regrets for? Keeping it legal, take that first step toward fulfilling what you were created to do.
Now is the time.
I’m here today to encourage someone. That one thing that you have been paralyzed to take that first step… go ahead and allow yourself the grace and space to trip and fall. It’s okay to fall. It’s okay to get back up. To start.
Be encouraged. Whether or not you have a tangible finalized expression of what you want to do, make the decision at the very first to go for it.
To do that one thing.
You don’t have to be able to explain it to start.
- You readily see it in your imagination.
- Feel it in your determination.
- Then do it till it becomes your realization.
By doing this, taking that first step and the next and the next, you learn how to break free.
Breaking free of some of the invisible prison cells that paralysis analysis puts around us. Those tend to be walls of “I can’t” and “It’s impossible!” But hey, I hate to rain on your parade but I’m living proof that it is possible. “What you talkin’ about Willis?” you ask? You want proof?
Well, take into consideration that before the start of 2021, if you had told me I would have my own Voiceover business, ‘retired’ (my mind still doesn’t know what to do with this😉) from clinical physical therapy practice and actively write whether via this blog or books (yes, need to publish them) and suddenly launch a Podcast in the first quarter of the year, writing my own scripts, co-editing and all that it takes to have a Podcast up and running within less than 2 months … And no prior knowledge of what goes into a Podcast other than one obscure Saturday morning introduction webinar to Podcasting a year before… I would have maybe asked you what you had for lunch or seriously thought you were actively chewing on some stimulant or otherwise.
But here I am with multiple episodes of Victory in Mind Podcast already released and loving it as it is an extension of who I am…
It all started when I took that first step.
So ask yourself, what is it that you really, really want to do? That one thing.
Whatever it is, let reading this blog be your impetus to move forward with it. Think about this one thing, about what you want to do to take action.
Then, take that first step.
Then the next step and the next… until you gain momentum such that stopping what you have started, what you have a passion for no longer is a consideration.
My friend, you have overcome that fear. Yes, in life, there will be hurdles to face with any given situation, but this one hurdle that tried to keep you immobile no longer has ANY power over you.
You have overcome it!!!
Points to consider
- You are not alone. There are people around you who are willing to go along with what you’re trying to do in the form of encouragement, if you verbalize it.
- A healthy dose of caution is prudent. Just like you wouldn’t give your baby’s care to any person off the street, so too you want to protect your ideas, plans and progress until it’s time for the unveiling. Because for every voice that’s going to lift you up, unfortunately there’s likely to be somebody somewhere who may advertently or inadvertently wanna tear you down.
- Active looking for someone to walk alongside you if they are not readily available. You have to be willing to take the first step. Just like no one could take the first step for that baby.
No one can take the first step for you, except you
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