When we are in the death and rebirth stage of the change cycle, sometimes we need to remember that bearing the grief and loss is an activity in itself, that survival may be all that is required of us.
“all I can do
is bear it
all I can do is
remember that bearing
can carry the gifts
of wisdom and witness
that bearing can give its strength
to the first air-filled breath
of a child”
Sometimes that act of bare survival takes more courage than we think we have. Survival, bearing what seems unbearable, is the art and science of finding the strength to simply keep breathing, keep moving.
And its ok to only be able to focus on the next tiny step. Sometimes, when nothing makes sense, and it’s facile to say that this too shall pass – because we know that it never will, that this will be endless and far too heavy to ever move – it’s only the rhythm of school lunches and taking the rubbish out and bedtimes that gets us through. Sometimes it’s hard enough just to remember to breathe.
The bare act of survival, of taking that next step, one baby step at a time. Of simply remembering to breathe, one breath at a time. Sometimes that’s all we can do, and all we need to do.
transitions coaching 