Rethinking: stability in movement
Rethinking: stability in movement
Routines help bring stability into our lives. That morning cup of coffee before we start the day,
the familiar ride to work, meeting a friend for jogging every other day, or the obligatory Sunday
dinner with the family. All this lends stability and structure to a week that would otherwise run
quite haphazardly.
But what happens when these routines suddenly fall apart? Do we lose our footing and drift into a sea of disorientation? There are many triggers for such a collapse: moves, career changes, but a pandemic is certainly a serious one, even more so because it hits everyone at the same time. Thus, an exciting question for the current situation would be: how can I develop stability in the movement?
As the German writer Ludwig Börne once wrote: “In a tottering ship, he who stands still and does not move falls over.” Does that mean we’d better keep moving and boldly forge ahead? But where to? Straight ahead, left or right? No one will be able to answer that question for us.
Only we can make the decision, and choose where we want to go.
This time has forced us to let go of habitual patterns of behavior and identify what we really want. This means trusting ourselves again. Especially in uncertain times, this seems to be a tall order. If you observe children, however, you will notice that they are constantly in such a state of flux. Everything is new and children embrace the new much more courageously than we adults do. Does experience stand in our way, or have we forgotten to follow our own intuition? I believe it is the latter.
Courage to let go and discover something new requires a shift in thinking: seeing possibilities instead of problems. Indeed, like a children taking their first steps or turns on skis, we too will fall down—but that’s not the point. What counts are the times we get up again.
