I have talked about how we change our lives by taking one small step towards something different and then I get inspired by something said to me by our 15-year-old son. He hears a line in a song and passes it on to me…”The first step is the one you believe in.” Today, I visited with a dad who has a dream about being a carpenter. I asked him if he has done anything with it, and like most people he shyly says, “No.” He tells me he procrastinates and I tell him that one of my mottos is “It Starts Today!” and that it is on the plates on my car. He likes it. I also share with him about my quote about the “strongest tree” and he tells me he likes that too. Now, I do not know this dad very well and sometimes cannot get men to connect with this stuff as much as I do with women. But, I loved today. I got him thinking and reminded him about the first step and how it doesn’t need to be so profound or big that it engulfs you with so much fear and anxiety that you do nothing. Baby steps. I have changed my life so much in two years that it would be difficult to find the big things that made it so. It is the little things that might have made the biggest impact. One big thing that I will never forget is when I met Rocky and how she continues to motivate me (yes, we are calling it that) with her “10 more steps” that I hear over and over when I run in the morning. There are too many little things to count and yet that all have had an impact on where I am now. No one expects us to run a marathon the first time we put on a new pair of running shoes. It is a gradual process that allows us to develop stamina, learn from our mistakes, fall down, and get back up again. What do you believe in? Do you believe in that first step? Just that one (for now)? It is really that simple and it amazes me how hard and difficult we think it must be and we create our own obstacles that prevent us from doing anything. At times, that first step is the scariest one. It can be the one that brings you the most attention and makes people notice who you are and what you are doing. But it does something else, too. It gives them permission to take their first step as well. I know I have said this before, but I still struggle with believing that I can impact others, but I can and I do. Not because I seek that but because it is a natural response by those around me. I heard a motivational speaker once say that others can inspire others, but motivation comes from within. The first we accept and process and as a result of that, we change our behavior and we take action. So, what are you going to do take action? Just sit there and wait and tell yourself over and over that you should and find an excuse or are you going to take that first step?
Michelle Homme 2012 ©
