SIT AND TIE THAT SHOE LACE
By Taffy Bete
Imagine a child running with her friends who falls over her shoelaces, quickly jumps up and starts running again without tying the lace. How far can this child go before tripping over the lace again? Until that shoelace is tied, that child will keep falling with each fall, making her dirty and draining a bit of her enthusiasm.
We all have moments when we find ourselves knocked down on our knees, haunted by self doubt, painful memories and past failures. Emotions and thoughts that dare us to just give up, stop dreaming big and just settle for the ordinary. A number of greatness thoughts tell us to rise and run again but a recent incident had me wondering what if when we found ourselves in the basement we sit for a bit, tie our shoelaces then rise again.
A powerful strong woman I know was once asked how she made it through all the hard times she had been through and she said ''I have learnt I will find myself in the basement several times along the way. I have embraced it, learnt to sit and cry, heal, restructure then stand again. For I know when I do stand again, I will run with increased determination.''
On further reflection, I understood it to mean that when we fail or just fall along the road, let us analyze what we did wrong, make peace with it and get back in the race. In some circumstances it's easier because the problem just might be that we did not manage time well and missed a deadline, did not study enough and failed an exam or overspent on that pair of shoes and used rent money. These I believe we can usually quickly correct in the next exam sitting, next month's deadline or next payday but in this one I want to deal with emotional shoe laces.
There are emotional issues in our lives that we think we can forget and walk away from but I have learnt it's never that easy. Many experiences in our lives can leave us with feelings or emotions that just loosen something within us. Failure to achieve something within a set period could breed self-doubt and possibly fear of ever setting goals again. If we do not deal with what actually went wrong and remove this self-doubt we may start fearing to pursue our greatness, as we are slowly convinced we are not worthy.
If a child is always told they are useless, a failure and will never make it they may end up believing it. Unless one day they sit, rewire and realize that they were abused, discouraged and demotivated but within them lies a seed of greatness they may always hold back from challenges and easily give up.
Along the way we may be let down by people who did not provide, did not care or were just never there for us. This could create a sense of disappointment, make us question our worth and generally lose faith in others. In a race where we need to know and believe our worth, trust others to run a certain part of the race with or for us such feelings could be costly shoe laces.
I dare you to realize that you are a strong person who still made it thus far regardless of failure and disappointment. The shoelace does not get bigger every time we fall! Its seemingly increasing hold over us comes from the pain and frustration that grows within us when the same thing haunts us repeatedly.
I don't know what or who untied your shoe laces and made you fall but what I know is if you sit and tie those shoelaces, when you rise my friend, you will be much stronger in this race of greatness. What say you?
Do we just shove the lace back into the shoe and hope we can cover a lot of distance before it comes loose again?
Or do we sit and tie that shoelace once and for all?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Taffy Bete is a young woman called to inspire, encourage and motivate others to pursue their greatness. She is a writer on www.contemporarymotivation.blogspot.com works with young people in leadership and hopes you have been inspired.
Imagine a child running with her friends who falls over her shoelaces, quickly jumps up and starts running again without tying the lace. How far can this child go before tripping over the lace again? Until that shoelace is tied, that child will keep falling with each fall, making her dirty and draining a bit of her enthusiasm.
We all have moments when we find ourselves knocked down on our knees, haunted by self doubt, painful memories and past failures. Emotions and thoughts that dare us to just give up, stop dreaming big and just settle for the ordinary. A number of greatness thoughts tell us to rise and run again but a recent incident had me wondering what if when we found ourselves in the basement we sit for a bit, tie our shoelaces then rise again.
A powerful strong woman I know was once asked how she made it through all the hard times she had been through and she said ''I have learnt I will find myself in the basement several times along the way. I have embraced it, learnt to sit and cry, heal, restructure then stand again. For I know when I do stand again, I will run with increased determination.''
On further reflection, I understood it to mean that when we fail or just fall along the road, let us analyze what we did wrong, make peace with it and get back in the race. In some circumstances it's easier because the problem just might be that we did not manage time well and missed a deadline, did not study enough and failed an exam or overspent on that pair of shoes and used rent money. These I believe we can usually quickly correct in the next exam sitting, next month's deadline or next payday but in this one I want to deal with emotional shoe laces.
There are emotional issues in our lives that we think we can forget and walk away from but I have learnt it's never that easy. Many experiences in our lives can leave us with feelings or emotions that just loosen something within us. Failure to achieve something within a set period could breed self-doubt and possibly fear of ever setting goals again. If we do not deal with what actually went wrong and remove this self-doubt we may start fearing to pursue our greatness, as we are slowly convinced we are not worthy.
If a child is always told they are useless, a failure and will never make it they may end up believing it. Unless one day they sit, rewire and realize that they were abused, discouraged and demotivated but within them lies a seed of greatness they may always hold back from challenges and easily give up.
Along the way we may be let down by people who did not provide, did not care or were just never there for us. This could create a sense of disappointment, make us question our worth and generally lose faith in others. In a race where we need to know and believe our worth, trust others to run a certain part of the race with or for us such feelings could be costly shoe laces.
I dare you to realize that you are a strong person who still made it thus far regardless of failure and disappointment. The shoelace does not get bigger every time we fall! Its seemingly increasing hold over us comes from the pain and frustration that grows within us when the same thing haunts us repeatedly.
I don't know what or who untied your shoe laces and made you fall but what I know is if you sit and tie those shoelaces, when you rise my friend, you will be much stronger in this race of greatness. What say you?
Do we just shove the lace back into the shoe and hope we can cover a lot of distance before it comes loose again?
Or do we sit and tie that shoelace once and for all?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Taffy Bete is a young woman called to inspire, encourage and motivate others to pursue their greatness. She is a writer on www.contemporarymotivation.blogspot.com works with young people in leadership and hopes you have been inspired.
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