I’m not sure why we wait until we’re struggling or hurting, to heed the universal advice for mental and physical health. Live one day at a time. Take one step at a time. Put one foot in front of the other one.
Maybe it’s that life is so fast paced and we automatically move from one thing to the next until difficulty stops us in our tracks. Until challenges shock us out of our routines and expectations, we forget to live in the moment.
Have you ever awakened to a fresh new day with a positive outlook and some plans for how you expect your day to play out? Then you got up.
After assessing the brand-new crisis that faces you as you roll out of bed, you utter to your partner: “this is not how I envisioned my day, how about you?”
You’re forced into problem-solving mode and all the while in the back of your mind you’re mulling longingly over the day you had expected. You move fluidly inside your fight or flight adrenaline-flooded bubble, from one step to the next.
Scripture says in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” That Scripture-writer sure hit the nail on the head. Just maybe, I can tackle today if I can just stick to only this complicated day and not ponder tomorrow just yet.
You’ve successfully faced the loss of your vision, and its plan B instead. You’ve already adapted to the new plan and you’ll overcome both the sense of loss of the original plan, and the crisis that took its place.
You’re in the marines now, the one of “adapt, improvise, and overcome” fame. You’re a true warrior.
I didn’t feel much like a warrior, however, on one Monday not long ago when our elderly cat decided to throw a wrench into our plans for the day, not to mention the weeks ahead. He relieved himself quite extensively under our bed. And yes, we store sundry things under there, don’t you?
Oh my. The entire room had to be cleared and the wood floor pulled up with a chunk of it, destroyed. Needless to say, I had other plans for that Monday. But needs be, we adapted but it’ll take a few weeks, to overcome.
Today when I got up with those familiar feelings of expectation and plans for the day, I quickly switched my expectations to hopes. I hope for a few things, at least, to “turn out” the way I envisioned.
“Just put one foot in front of the other,” we say to assuage the hurt in stressed-out friends and loved ones who’ve encountered sickness, pain, procedures, fear, failure, loss, or anxiety about what’s next. How obvious is the sentiment, “put one foot in front of the other?” However, few of us walk so deliberately. We scamper and slide from one thing straight into the next, unless something happens to call us to attention.
Then there’s “one step at a time.” Martin Luther King Jr said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
When pondering the concept of “one,” I noticed that “one” is always first, the lead. A baby learning to toddle or an adult learning to walk after a trauma of some sort, are examples of the first step as the first of forward momentum, and possibilities galore.
“One” can be an only, or followed by another. So, one and only reminds me that “alone” and “lonely” are not the same. Harry Nilsson’s 1968 song, “One (is the loneliest number)” which might make us think that being a one and only is lonely, was really penned when the songwriter tried to make a phone call and got a busy signal.
It’s not such a sad song after all. It really is up to you to define “one” and to take courage while doing anything for the first time.
Edward Hale puts it into perspective by saying, “I am only one, but still I am one.” One person can make a difference. You’ve got this one life, what are you going to do with it?
Then there’s “one love.” What a wonderful anomaly. In fact, there are many kinds of love and I think most people encounter more than one love in their lives. There is eros (romantic love), philos (friendship), and agape (unconditional/religious love). Take your pick, but like Nike, do it.
“Looking out for number one” is either the most self-centered of outlooks or it is an act of necessary self-love in the biblical sense of “love your neighbor as yourself.” It would be nice if looking out for number one were just the beginning of an outward spiraling concern for all of humankind, not the selfish kind of oneness.
So, if you’ll wait one minute, please, or if not exactly a minute, then wait one moment of indefinite length and I’ll just conclude this tome with a “once upon a time” tale. One time, there was a brand-new day and I took it one step at a time, putting one foot in front of the other, to see what this day would bring.
We’ll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow, thank you very much. Today is day one.