Taking the first step

16 Mar Taking the first step

This week’s blog is a bit different. A reflection on a poem!

Start Close In

by David Whyte

Start close in,

don’t take the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don’t want to take.

This poem has been sitting with me for over a year. Sometimes art and poetry translate the deep emotions we cannot otherwise articulate. This is what this poem did for me this past year.

Sometimes we know what our next step is but it feels daunting or scary. So we fill our time with lots of other decent tasks and distractions to avoid taking the first step towards the direction of the life we actually most want to live.

The step we resist is often the one where we meet ourselves fully. That can be scary because it will mean change.

Sometimes the first step is to stop and see where that next step will take you. What is the first (next) step that is calling you? Will you listen to it?

For the full poem, check it out here.

If you want to check out more of David Whyte’s work, visit his website.