Taking the Stairs

Life is like taking the stairs. You walk up, you get winded, you think you are almost to the top and then realize you have another floor to go. Better yet, you go up and down because you keep forgetting something below. Up and down, up and down, like a roller coaster using your legs.

I have been up and down life’s stairs often. I always like going up, I like feeling myself progress and move forward. I feel good about myself I perch on the landing enjoying moving up and being in a positive place. I sometimes get a little cocky like I will be perched here happy and complacent for the rest of my life, but then someone I love tumbles down a few steps or I slip a few and down I go and I scratch my head disappointed that I allowed myself to think things would always stay the same.

Life’s staircase can draw you into a false sense of well being. It is always so disappointing to realize that you cannot be at the top forever. I remember years ago when a good friend left a company we were working for. I was offered her job and I was afraid to try to fill her shoes. She was amazing at her job and I was intimidated. That is when my friend said something that I always remember. “There will always be someone to take your spot, you can never fool yourself into believing that you are the best or the only in anything because when you believe that about yourself you are already not good enough, because you will never try to grow and be better than you are right now”. WOW! So I climbed those stairs and learned that job and the next job and the next, working my way up in the company.

It is so easy to want (wish or pray) for every chaotic thing in your life to end, but those uncomfortable stairs are what help us grow stronger and smarter. So you go up and down a few times until you figure out what the next step is or you linger on the landing a little longer hoping that you can keep climbing and sometimes you step back down, regroup and climb up again. Then one day you climb up and move past a few landings and you grow and become better than you are right now on life’s staircase.