On Getting Back Up

‘Nana korobi, Ya oki’

‘Fall down seven times, stand up eight’

Japanese Proverb

We all fall down. Falling down is simply unavoidable in this life. Unless you have built a fortress of solitude and safety to mitigate any risk whatsoever - but even then, if you are honest with yourself you probably realise you have already fallen down and set up camp on rock bottom and that that magnificent fortress that you built has become more of a padded cell and a straightjacket. It prevents you from hurting but it also prevents you from feeling. From living.

Sometimes we make a big fall. Sometimes it’s a small stumble that feels very big. Other times we just get into a rut and we don’t quite know how we got there.

Although knowing the reason why it happened may be useful to avoid it happening again in the future, the more important thing is to know how to get back up. If you know how to pick yourself up and dust yourself off, life continues. And if you really learn to do it effectively, the fear of falling down again will start to lose its power over you.

So take that leap, big or small. If you land safely, good. If not, practise getting back up again and your next fall won’t be quite as painful.