In the first step is a kind of death

It starts with a whisper. A gnawing. Something has to change.

The whisper becomes louder. It can no longer be ignored. From first notice to this point may take hours, or decades. I have seen decades in people… It’s what makes them old before their time. It sucks the juiciness out of them.

But still, we do not take that first step. Why is that? Why do we so fear what is calling us from our bones?

In the first step is a kind of death. And death is something we do not discuss in our shiny, success-driven world.

We have to die to the old story. To the old models that have kept us going to this point. This very point where now, in this moment, we get to choose a different path.

Or not.

We have to die to relationships that may not serve our new life. To beliefs that are no longer true.

We have to die to parts of ourselves that keep us small….unseen.

To say yes to the first step, to launch…this is always the hardest. And yet the first step is the most accessible. It is not out there, hard to find…but right here…right now…at our feet.

We may not know the second step, or the third, and certainly not the tenth. We only need to know this step, the first.

Take that. Only take that. Step out. Step.

Suddenly, there will be ground beneath your feet that one second ago was not there.

And with this small, seemingly inconsequential action, everything has changed.

Shoulders are a little more squared, neck held a little higher, a touch of certainty embodied.

And then the second step is there. Clear as day. But only, only after the first step is taken.

Writtten November 13th 2013

Published June 26th 2026. Photo taken June 26th 2020