Bouncing Back

I recently heard a commercial encouraging people and businesses to bounce back. I don’t know about you, but I don’t bounce!

During my divorce I had an image of walking along the beach on a lovely day. There was a soft breeze and a clear blue sky. Waves gently washed over my bare feet as I walked along the shore, holding hands with the person I believed would be my life partner, because we loved each other. Then, suddenly I found myself alone and dropped on my butt with sand in my shorts.  

When life’s circumstances make us feel that things have fallen apart, and we’ve found ourselves on the ground, we’re often not sure how we can, or even if we can, get back up. 

These are a few of the things I learned, sitting alone on the beach.

1. Be still and assess any damage. Are you scraped or bruised? Is anything broken? Being still helps us see what we might have missed or ignored in the past.

2. Ask a friend to hold onto you as you try to stand up. It’s too hard to do alone. You may only be able to sit up to begin with, so be patient. Eventually you will remember how to steady yourself.

3. Once you are upright, you can decide which direction you want to go, taking one step at a time.

4. You may look back at this experience and realize that something important had happened as you were on the ground. Laying there, you looked up and saw the world a little differently. Sitting alone, you learned how to be compassionate with, and how to comfort, yourself. 

To others, you may look like you bounced but that is not what happened, for bouncing teaches us nothing, and you have learned much.