"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". - Lao Tzu.
Initially a Chinese proverb, this is one of my favourite quotes about the journey of life... .. ..
I don't know about you but I'm not good with big jobs. I'm also honest enough to admit that that first step is almost impossible for me to take at times. I procrastinate. I am the Queen of stall tactics and I am enormously proud to say that I can delay some stuff for like a million years. (slight exaggeration)
In my head I see some personal journeys like a running race.. The whistle blows and I just sit there.. After a time I'm still sitting there. It feels like everyone else has blown me away.. . But there I am.. still in the same spot. I'm just hanging out, inwardly panicking about an infinite number of possibilities, writing a 'To Do' list while everyone has else has disappeared and are a blur in the distance! I mean I could lie to myself saying that I'm a 'planner', but really I just freeze.
If the above running race was shown to you as a cartoon with animals and stuff I'd be depicted as the ostrich! A smart, literate ostrich wearing on point activewear, armed with a clipboard of things to do, but an ostrich nonetheless. My initial response is to bury my head and just hope it will all work out. (by the way I say this knowing that the whole thing about ostriches burying their heads in the sand is a myth! I mean how can they do that and not die of asphyxiation?)
I know that this quote is about taking that first step. That discrete action to start a long process or task, or anything major in your life.
When I read this quote, I'm hearing the words say that after taking that first step I need to to chip away at those overwhelming and difficult tasks. Just keep stepping forward Pauline.
I think this quote is trying to teach me that what seems ginormous and unachievable can be done, and that after a time of travelling through those challenging and long journeys I will notice what was initially seen as so steep and uphill, becomes a more even, open plain, and at some point the road travelled becomes larger than the sum parts of the whole. Progress! Go figure.
I need to tell myself that I will find the destination of my journey, or completion of my task. I need to remind myself that if I don't take just one step I'm never going to get anywhere because duh, that's standing still!
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". To me this is a mantra that explains what is needed to get 'there' , even if 'there' feels like you've got a tgouthou miles ahead.
I hope you find inspiration in this quote, and I'd love to hear from you about how you've applied it to your everyday life.
Pauline xoxo
I don't know about you but I'm not good with big jobs. I'm also honest enough to admit that that first step is almost impossible for me to take at times. I procrastinate. I am the Queen of stall tactics and I am enormously proud to say that I can delay some stuff for like a million years. (slight exaggeration)
In my head I see some personal journeys like a running race.. The whistle blows and I just sit there.. After a time I'm still sitting there. It feels like everyone else has blown me away.. . But there I am.. still in the same spot. I'm just hanging out, inwardly panicking about an infinite number of possibilities, writing a 'To Do' list while everyone has else has disappeared and are a blur in the distance! I mean I could lie to myself saying that I'm a 'planner', but really I just freeze.
If the above running race was shown to you as a cartoon with animals and stuff I'd be depicted as the ostrich! A smart, literate ostrich wearing on point activewear, armed with a clipboard of things to do, but an ostrich nonetheless. My initial response is to bury my head and just hope it will all work out. (by the way I say this knowing that the whole thing about ostriches burying their heads in the sand is a myth! I mean how can they do that and not die of asphyxiation?)
I know that this quote is about taking that first step. That discrete action to start a long process or task, or anything major in your life.
When I read this quote, I'm hearing the words say that after taking that first step I need to to chip away at those overwhelming and difficult tasks. Just keep stepping forward Pauline.
I think this quote is trying to teach me that what seems ginormous and unachievable can be done, and that after a time of travelling through those challenging and long journeys I will notice what was initially seen as so steep and uphill, becomes a more even, open plain, and at some point the road travelled becomes larger than the sum parts of the whole. Progress! Go figure.
I need to tell myself that I will find the destination of my journey, or completion of my task. I need to remind myself that if I don't take just one step I'm never going to get anywhere because duh, that's standing still!
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". To me this is a mantra that explains what is needed to get 'there' , even if 'there' feels like you've got a tgouthou miles ahead.
I hope you find inspiration in this quote, and I'd love to hear from you about how you've applied it to your everyday life.
Pauline xoxo