I Just Woke Up and Had Breakfast

On the quiet courage it takes to begin again, one small step at a time.

When you’re walking through deep grief, painful loss, or trauma of any kind, energy is often the first thing to disappear. Getting out of bed can suddenly feel incredibly hard and even pointless. Motivation leaves you, and some days it feels almost impossible to just put one foot on the floor, let alone get up and face the world.

People around us often don’t understand what’s going on. They want to help, so they say things like, “Come on, get some fresh air. Why don’t you go for a walk or try this and do that.” And sometimes that encouragement can really help — especially if it comes with an offer to do it with you: “Let’s go and do a short walk in the park together,” or, “How about I come and get you and we go for a drive.” But other times, what a person needs most is not a pep talk, but encouragement to celebrate the tiniest of victories.

When you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.

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I think of a conversation I had with my podcast guest, Natasha. She said for some people, progress looks like walking to the letterbox one day, or just stepping out into the garden.

I know there were mornings when I barely managed that myself. I was a high-functioning, “A-type” leader, and suddenly my world had crumbled......

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