Up a Steep & Very Narrow Staircase...

See what I did there?

Before our car accident, I just did the stairs: up or down and didn’t think about it one way or another really.

Now and forever more? It takes thought, and one step at a time. It’s worse going down than up. It’s doable, sometimes. Other times, it’s simply not a good option. I often hang back and wait if I take the train and have to then use a staircase - because I can’t keep up with the crowd and don’t want to be in the way when people are in a hurry. I also don’t want to be jostled in case I can’t keep up, for fear I may lose my balance, my footing, whatever.

Stairs have had to become very present in my decisions.

Why am I telling you this?

What if the journey you are on - in your artistic life and your career exploration - is often like a staircase. Up or down; steep, narrow, deep, wide, spiraling, grand. What if we stopped for a moment and didn’t just run the stairs, but took a breath and just did one step at a time?

I remember the first time I walked up the stairs of Montmartre. I was in my 20s. I still looked up and said “I have lost my mind” and started up. I remember stopping a couple of times; I remember changing my speed; I remember breathing; I remember emptying my water bottle; I remember cursing myself; I remember cursing those stairs; I remember feeling sweaty and hot and burning when I got to the top. I remember laughing and feeling exhausted and exhilerated at the top. I remember thinking “I am never doing THAT again.” And then I looked down and saw how far I had climbed. And then I looked out and saw the view. Was it worth it? Yes. Would there have to be another way another time? Yes.

What’s the staircase look like in your world? Does it have to be what it appears? Could you perhaps, CREATE the staircase you choose to climb? Wouldn’t that be intriguing?

If it feels like a rickety narrow and uneven one - what if you simply gave yourself permission to change your perspective of that staircase? One stair at a time? What happens if you just focus in on and stay present on each step? One at a time.

Is it okay to sit down? To rest? To lift your head and look up? To lift your head and look out and enjoy the few from where you are?

If the focus is to get to the top (or the bottom!), what about the time and experience it takes between here and there? Have you noticed anything useful, or just that “I’m not there yet.”

And what happens when you get to the top or the bottom? Now what?

Create your staircase. Shift it, create it, re-create it. Allow each step to appear UNDER you and support you fully.

Pick up your head. Stay present. BREATHE. OBSERVE. REST. Take in where you are and enjoy what that brings you. Lift your head and see where you are going and allow that to morph and change as needed.

It’s your staircase. You are creating as you go.