Sometimes, the only way forward is to continue placing one foot in front of the other
Balance. That concept seems to escape me these days.
I’m not gonna lie. Life isn’t all pretty pictures and instamoments. I’m exhausted right now. My to-do list feels insurmountable; a huge list of to-dos at work that I can’t seem to check off, a backlog piled up at home, not to mention just regular day-to-day survival to-dos. There is so much that sometimes it feels overwhelming and I have no idea how I’m going to tackle any of it, let alone all of it. On top of the fact that we have little-to-no personal time right now, since my son is taking much longer to fall asleep and my evening doesn’t begin until late. And somehow, I need to squeeze in time to eat, shower, and sleep too. But this morning, I was reminded of how present our children are. They are not consumed by all the what-ifs and worries that might loom; they are simply present, focused on what’s immediately in front of them.
One game my kids love to play is “balance”. They love when we hold their hands and give them just that little amount of reassurance they need as they balance and walk along ledges. Rather than looking around them, above them, or below off the sides of the ledge, they focus on what’s immediately in front of them and take it one step at a time. There is no sense of fear; only delight and even thrill as they continue to move forward. I’ve found this simple truth to work for me, when it comes to juggling life. When it’s nebulous and my mind is consumed by all that’s still out there, I take my eyes off what’s in front of me and can get crippled by the sheer volume of what I need to do. But sometimes, it’s as simple as just making that list to get it outside of my head, and then just being assured that it’s all captured there, and directing my attention to tackling things one by one. Instead of worrying about how I’m going to do it all, to just simply start doing it and begin moving forward. So much we can learn from our kids.
Christina Peng 