A Step in the Right Direction
Hey girl,
Sometimes one step in the right direction changes everything. A step to better your life brings life. It brings joy. It brings hope. It brings energy. It can change everything.
After writing a blog titled "To the Girl Whose 2019 was NOTHING Like She Expected," I began to think about the after math of when we decide to make changes (if you haven't read this post, read it before continuing https://wineanddinewiththehines.com/to-the-girl-whose-2019-was-nothing-like-she-expected/ ).
I believe that big steps are disguised as small steps. When someone starts making a change, they have no evidence that it will work. Once you get the ball rolling, you start to see hope and changes. It's like the dark room you were sitting in suddenly has a small candle. You can't see much of the big picture, but you know it's there!
From personal experience, my small steps have really been the milestones in my life. This is why when someone tells me about their "small achievement" I want to be the person who rallies around them and cheers them on. This achievement is just the beginning!!
What does a small step look like? For some people, I think it's calling their friend and sharing what their past few months have ACTUALLY looked like. It could be calling a therapist or joining a small group. For a wife, it could be hugging your husband when he walks in the door instead of giving him the cold shoulder. For students, it could be showing up to class. For fathers, maybe it's telling their children how proud and how much they love them. For a mother, maybe it's saying no to things and taking time for you. It's opening your Bible. It's deciding to feel your pain. It's cutting out toxic friends. It's deciding to show up at the gym feeling crappy about yourself. It's sobbing into your pillow at 2 in the morning.
Small steps look different for everyone. But oh how beautiful they are! We need to see the beauty in our beginnings instead of seeing later successes and forgetting how we got there. We need to listen to our friends and hear their story without saying even one judgmental word. You could be experiencing their FIRST STEP!
The last thing I want to say is that sometimes your small step won't seem remarkable until months or years down the road. You may even see it as a failure. The time you tried but didn't get to where you wanted to be. But friend, when you get to where you are going, retrace your journey. Find that moment where you felt so unmotivated. It's important to see where we started and how far God has brought us. FYI, the people who never fail are the people who never try.
Take one small step, friend. It is scariest step. Things get better. Life gets better.
I thank you for reading, sharing, and always sending me kind words. So many of you have continued following me even when I've stepped back for weeks and months at a time. I am so grateful.
I pray you take a "small step" this week. I pray I do too. :)
Chan