Get Up

It seems we fight gravity our whole life. One of the highlights of a young child’s life is the first step taken on wobbly legs. As children grow they are urged to have good posture and to “sit up straight.” As the years pass gravity fights to slump our backs and slow our steps and getting up becomes a challenge. We as adults find out that life can knock us down. It can be a loss of a job or a broken marriage. Sickness can flatten us. Even mental health can bring us down. So the question is, “how do we get back up?” It’s a lot like building a fire. Every morning in the winter, one of the first things I do is build a fire in the workshop. It’s amazing how this task translates to life itself.

1. Start Small

In making a fire, we gather small twigs to start. You’d waste your time holding a match to a log. In life we have a term for this, “baby steps.” Pick something small to work on first. It is said that the act of making our bed in the morning creates a sense of accomplishment. Seems small, but the effect propels us toward a better day. When it comes to our health, many gym memberships start this way. A walk on a treadmill leads to better health. After a couple of visits to the gym, we find ourselves trying to progress to bigger things, but the truth is our body isn’t ready yet. Many times that leads us to quit. We need to be okay with starting small. A small step in mental health is admitting there is a problem. Start there.

2. Stand Up

In making a fire every morning, I’ve found that standing up the small twigs makes the fire easier to start. In life also we must “rise to the task” or face the issues that keep us down. If we identify a problem in our lives, we must stand and face it. On multiple occasions, I’ve spoken to people who were depressed and found out that they stayed inside all day in front of the television or scrolling through social media. Simply distracting ourselves from negative feelings won’t make them go away. We have to stand up and face them. This might mean asking for help from a friend, counselor, or pastor who can help you name and face the problem.

3. Blow Softly

As I start my little fire every morning, I’ve found blowing softly on it helps it along. Just as we focus on the spark with a soft breath, in life, we need to focus on our own problems. A story was told of an elderly lady in the care of a home aide nurse. The lady complained about her neighbor and the state of their yard. She would sit and gaze out the window in disgust. When she complained to the nurse about the neighbor and their unkempt yard, the nurse noticed the elderly lady’s window was dirty. Upon cleaning the window, the elderly lady realized it was in her home where the problem lay. Focused attention on our own problems can feed the flames of change better than blustering about what others are doing. The same is true in other areas of life. When it comes to working on our relationship we may need to address the small things in our own lives and not turn immediately to criticizing our significant other. A temper or harsh words can be calmed by a deep breath and a pause before saying anything.

4. Stay with It

I’ve found that if I walk away from the fire just after it’s been started, it will soon go out. As you rise to face problems, difficulty will come. Some days you will feel that no progress has been made. There will be days when you’ll go backward. There will be days you’ll want to stay in bed and ignore what you must face. I urge you to stay with it! Life will be what you make it. My prayer and hope for you is that you can soon stand back from your “fire” and bask in its warmth!