Baby steps

We were toddlers once

Hard to deny

We all started somewhere

And before we took our first steps

We shook

We struggled

We fell

We cried

We got back up

Again

And again

And again

It helps when someone is clapping for us and smiling and cheering us on

But even when they weren’t,

we never stopped

We came crashing down and bonked our heads

We got a few steps in as the momentum of being top heavy with a big head carried us forward into a freefall and we tasted the carpet again

Rug burns

Bruises

Cuts and scrapes

Tears and comfort

And something significant happened before we actually took our first steps

Before we learned to steady our body

Before we learned to stop tripping over our own two feet

And that significant thing

Was that we didn’t give up.

Something said,

I’m going to get this

no matter how many times I fail

No matter how many times I’ve cried alone

and felt like all of this is going nowhere

No matter how slow this all seems to be going

No matter how many times people cheered for me

Believed in me

Only so I could feel like a big fat disappointment

They believed in me and I’m still on all fours gasping for air

They cheered for me

and I’m now being comforted

because I bonked my head

I’m

So

Embarrassed

By my failures

But babies don’t think that way.

We were once these children,

with dreams that seem simple now because we passed those moments of success so long ago

We were once so determined

So focused

So ready to try again

And again

And again

and we didn’t feel like disappointments to the ones who cheered us on and believed in us

We actually needed them

And we still do

Even when we fall in front of them

Love is such a powerful motivator

Don’t run from those who are cheering and championing for you just because you feel like you might be disappointing their belief in you.

Because every step is progress

Every struggle builds more strength

Every failure teaches us something

And I know the tears are part of the process

But in the end

The cameras will come out

You will be celebrated

screams will come up to amplify the cheering and laughter,

and joy will consume the baited silence that came before first steps when everything felt suddenly so quiet

As you step into everything you have set your mind to

You will have it all

If you can remember who you are

And who you have always been

Because that toddler was all of us

And we all figured it out one day

And look at us now.

Seems silly to make a big deal out of it now

Because it’s just what we do today

Same for your dreams though.

One step

On foot in front of the other

You might shake

You might fall

You might cry

And then

One day

You begin to fly

This is not the end

We were all determined children

Once..

…no

That child is still you

We are still just bigger versions of the same courageous person now

it’s not what you do

It’s who you are

And just like walking eventually led to running

It’s ok to want more than first steps

and out of who you are

Comes rivers of life

These steps you are taking

if you keep believing

Are going to change the world.

So…

Dear child

…

…

Rise.