Compounding Steps

"I do a lot, but it doesn't seem to amount to much."

• Marv Shafer
  

Compounding Steps

It's easy to forget. Sometimes I need photographs to nudge my memory. I stare at the photo wall in my house and see images of what was hanging there. There are three little girls covered in bubbles sitting joyfully together in a big jetted tub, all giggling. Now, these same girls would be hard pressed to sit in the same small tub! Same girls, same tub, but a lot of water has passed through the tub since that photo was taken.

I look at the photo again and wonder when those little girls grew up. I know they did because I can see the change, but I don't remember them turning to women over night! That's the way it feels.

I look across another room and see my friend Marv talking. "I do a lot, but it doesn't seem to amount to much," He says.

My mind passes through a portal where I see my first daughter beginning to take her first steps. I feel the warm rush of memory envelope my entire body as I reengage with the excitement of her first small steps. She did a lot and those steps didn't really amount to much, but the excitement I felt was genuine. I knew it was the dawn of great progress.

Her progress came step by step, bump by bump. What I tend to forget is that before she could walk easily without falling down she crashed a lot. She also got up a lot. Now, after many years, she gets up easily and rarely falls down and when I watch her now, it's easy to forget those first small steps.

Why is it that we can't remember the importance of first steps? Why don't we allow ourselves to be impressed with the small steps we continually take each day? Why do we think we should be able to take one small step today and then run a marathon tomorrow? When I break a marathon down into pieces it's plain to see that it's only completed after a huge number of small steps, not one twenty-six mile step. I don't know of anyone who can take one step like that!

I'm sure you don't know anyone who can take one step that big either! So, perhaps you can give yourself permission to be a small child again. Take one step and then allow yourself to be impressed! Know that you'll fall down. Know that you'll receive some bumps and bruises along the way. Also know that if you just keep getting up and taking more steps you'll get where you want to be. It simply takes time and continued effort.

I know that the time it takes to reach your desired destination is sometimes hard to deal with because it's easy to forget where you came from. I'm sure you're like me and need to give your memory a little nudge from time to time. You need to be able to see the progress you've made.

Photographs are a great tool for this. I have a couple of photos that really help me when I feel stuck. They're old photos of me as a young child. When I don't think what I've done amounts to much, I pull those aged photos out and look at them. They allow me to see the truth.

I've grown and accomplished a lot. You have too, so don't be fooled! Look at your aged photos and then feel the warmth of remembered accomplishments rush through your body again and again. It'll get you excited for your next first steps!