Hi! It feels like a long time since I’ve talked to you but it probably isn’t for you! Recently I followed through on something I mentioned in a previous video and I attempted to go up the Hakarimatas with my daughter. And it was an interesting experience!
I’m not going to try and fool you into thinking that I actually made it to the top! 1,300 stairs! I made it halfway, but that’s not the point.
The lesson was in the stairs
I was really struck by the stairs. They were in groups and I wonder if you’ll notice the thing that I want to talk to you about. Lots of them were boxed with wood. But because of the way they were made, each step up was kind of stamped in by lots of people. There are so many people going up that walk, it’s amazing! and I do intend to make it to the top one day, but not at the moment.
The first step was always bigger
But the thing that interested me is that the first step was always bigger. Probably because that dirt had nothing holding it in. And it got pushed away by all the feet and maybe rain and stuff, but that made the first step always big. Then the next one’s are all quite even in each set. It happened again and again and so I took this photo, or I got Caylah to take this photo.
Isn’t that interesting? I just think that’s such a good life lesson. You’re probably getting sick of me going on about life lessons. But the first step is always the hardest!
Getting started is difficult. The first step of deciding that you need some help and you’re going to talk to somebody. The first step of reaching out to the person maybe who you’ve found, who you want to do some work with, some counseling, or some art therapy work.
What thoughts make the first step the hardest?
Here are some of the sorts of thoughts that stop us from taking that first step.
- What will happen?
- Oh my gosh! What’s it gonna be like?
- Maybe it’ll be terrible?
- I’m so scared!
- Maybe it’s fears.
- Maybe it’s just procrastination.
- Maybe it’s – oh the problems I’m having aren’t bad enough to pay money or to seek help for.
- Or other people have got it so much worse than me, I should just be able to handle this.
The next steps are probably going to be easier
All those sorts of things stop us from taking the first step. Once you’ve taken the first step the next ones are so much easier ! Just like in this picture, from the stairs up the Hakarimatas. The first step is always the hardest.
So how could we overcome that? I don’t think there’s any any easy answer. But I encourage you. Take the first step and have faith and know that the next one is not going to be quite so hard and that each one maybe will get easier as you go along.
Use your creativity to explore your thoughts and feelings about this
Maybe you could do some art work, an art piece, use anything you’ve got: pipe cleaners, paper, sticky tape, glue, Play Doh, clay is fun – clay is really lovely and tactile. So those are arty things.
What else? You could do some writing. You could ask yourself what stops me from taking the first step? And do some free writing. Do you know what free writing is? I’m gonna do another video about free writing, so look out for that, if you don’t know what it is.
So some writing would be awesome. Write a poem about taking the first step. Write a song about taking the first step or find a song about taking the first step and play it to yourself, put it in your playlist and listen to it. Have a think.
Am I not taking the first step because it seems so hard? or What stops me from taking the first step? It’s a really interesting question. I would love to hear your thoughts on that. so send me a message private message me, you know, through messenger or Instagram, whatever the Instagram thing is called. Talk to me about taking the first step. I want to tell you that the first step is always the hardest and if you’ll take that one the next one will be easier. this is Dione from After the Rain Arts Therapy. Hope I can talk to you soon, bye.
