The Balancing Act
Imagine standing on a tight rope suspended from a great height. You are told that the answers to all of life’s questions are at the end of the tight rope and you have been set up to make it all the way to there. Your only instruction is to keep moving forward.
For most people its a scary thought, so it might take you a while to get used to it. Trying to keep steady with two hands spread out wide, initially balancing on the rope will consume your every thought.
You are alone on the tight rope. There is no one else with you. As you walk along the tight rope notice the fall getting deeper and deeper. You will probably fall off a few times and have some bumps and bruises to show for it, but this will not deter you from moving forward. You will keep moving and as you do, you will notice it gets a little easier as you gain momentum.
You start getting comfortable with your ability and less afraid. You feel like you are going somewhere, like you’re making progress. There is wind in your sails and the world is yours for the taking. Suddenly you feel something that knocks you off the tight rope. You fall all the way down and land flat on your back. The fall almost kills you. The impact of the fall has a massive effect on you. Imagine the broken bones and serious injuries from a fall like that.
You barely survive the injuries and you can’t continue on the journey. You are tired, weak and discouraged. You suffer with pain everyday. Days go by. Time is passing. Life feels like its not worth living anymore. You realize that you need to get back on the tightrope to keep moving forward. But what if you fall off? Remember I said you are alone on the tight rope. No one else exists but you. So where is this question coming from?
So you decide! You are going to take time to recover and you’re going to get your strength back. Then you’re going to get back on the tight rope and your going to take a step forward. Then you are going to take another, you’re going to focus on the rope and concentrate on each and every step. Then you are going to look to the end of the rope and realize that its so far away that you can’t even see it. Then you will loose focus and stumble again. You might even fall again. When you look down you see that you have so much to lose. Its a lot to take in. You need to…..
“Keep moving forward”
You’re shaky. You’ve lost your edge. You need to get back to basics. You need to get back to what got you here in the first place. You are a survivor. Look what you have been through. Are you still alone? You need to go back to the times before. The times that shaped you. The times that shaped who you are. You need to realize that it was you that strode step by step to the point you are at now. It was you who underwent the remarkable pressure and maneuvered innumerable setbacks on this same tight rope.
Its easy to say but much harder to do. Well, you’re not saying it, you’ve done it before and you will do it again. Just like you’ve drawn a million breaths before ,you will draw another breath again. You will take another step then draw another breath as you continue to master the balancing act on the tightrope in this journey called life.
