Now It’s Time to Get Up

When I first moved out on my own, I lived in a house where the washer and dryer were downstairs in an unfinished basement. The floorplan of the basement was different. You went down the stairs and as soon as you got to the last step, you had a wall about two feet in front of you. The wall really wasn’t an issue unless you had to carry something big down the stairs. One day I was in a hurry and rushed down the stairs, I took a quick right and after that I have no idea what happened. One minute I was rushing down the stairs, the next minute I had slipped and was on the ground. It all happened so quickly that I had no clue how I ended up on the floor. As I lay there trying to figure out what happened I realized that I was in such a hurry I didn’t see the top of a plastic clothes hamper on the concrete floor. When I took my quick right, my foot hit the plastic, and I went straight to the floor. I don’t think I’ve ever fallen like that any other time in my life. No time to get my arms out, just straight to the floor. I remember sitting on the ground just trying to assess everything. I looked around to see how I ended up on the ground, I counted all my limbs. Then it was time to get up.

Step One

The first thing you must do is brush yourself off. I’d love to tell you that is the only time that I have fallen, but that is far from true. I’ve fallen many times in many ways. Physically, emotionally, in the workplace, at home, as a spouse, as a parent, a friend and I’m sure many other ways. Once it’s time to get up, brush yourself off. As you brush yourself off, remind yourself that you are ok, and you survived. The problem with falling is that too often before we even try to get up, we think it’s the end. We put so much focus on what happened and to the fact that we are at least a little bit embarrassed that we don’t focus on the fact that we survived. We took the hit, we got knocked down, but we made it!

Step Two

Once I brush myself off, I need to move on. What does moving on mean? The hardest part of moving on is forgiving. For me to move on, I need to forgive and learn from the mistakes that I made, and I need to forgive the people who took advantage of me. The only way that I can openly embrace any new challenge is to go in with a clear head. I can’t have a clear head when I am dwelling on the past.

  Step Three

Once you forgive and are ready to move on, make sure you do some self-reflection on everything that happened. Once I fell on the concrete floor, I made sure that after that, I always had a clear path to the washer and dryer. Everyone falls, but I made sure never to get tripped up by the same thing ever again. The only way to do that is with self-reflection. I was in a hurry; I left the plastic lid on the floor. I’m sure I could have found some other things to blame it on, but if I did that, I’m sure I would have fallen again. The best way to make sure you don’t fall again is to make sure you focus on only the things you can control.

Step Four

The last two steps might be the most important steps out of everything. Once you decide to get up, you need to go full speed ahead. Everyone hits a bump in the road, everyone falls. Get up and get going fast. Remember what we have said in the past about smoke and the wall, don’t slow down. Learn a lesson but never stop moving. You were made to make an impact. You can’t make an impact driving in the slow lane.

Step Five

Everyone who knows me knows that this is my greatest struggle. Go Have Fun! Celebrate the wins, laugh with friends. One of the best parts of going out and winning is knowing that you didn’t let a fall stop you. It’s amazing how many people fall once and never get back up. They just lay there and just keep letting everyone push them down, so they never get back up. That’s not me, that’s not you. On the path to greatness, you are going to fall, many times. Get back up, get better, have fun and never stop moving forward!