I can’t climb it, it’s too big to push over, I can’t see around it.
It’s looming down on me. I am overwhelmed.
I hear a voice, “Step back, you’re too close.”
I do.
Now I see it is possible. I can make my way around it and go forward.
I look back and I’m puzzled by how intimidated I had felt. I couldn’t imagine a solution as I was only focused on the enormity of the problem.
Just step back – something to remember.
Our obstacles can seem endless – so many hooks from the past, reminders of our short-comings in the present and fear of what could go wrong in the future.
So often we give up and turn away feeling it’s all too much – it’s impossible.
But sometimes we take a breath and keep going one hurdle at a time – we just keep going.
And then, when we’re down to the last obstacle, almost there, almost to where we can celebrate, almost to where we can scream, “I made it!” We panic.
No more obstacles, no more struggle – what will we do? It’s always been hard, it’s never worked out, you’ve never got it right.
You’re almost there.
But just getting around that last corner can be as scary as the first step that seemed so impossible.
Don’t turn back, don’t run away. Just like the first hurdle take another breath, maybe two.
Just like before – you may be too close. Step back a bit.
All you’ve accomplished so far has brought you to where you are now.
You can handle ease, you can trust success, you can dare to ask for more.
Now you see what you need to do.
There you go – you did it.
Photos by; Sharon Cooke, Kitchener Ontario