I cannot count how many times I have stumbled. It began as a toddler, when I began to learn to walk. :-D We’ve all stumbled in that way, right? And then I stumbled again when I didn’t make the Jamb cut off mark the first time. And I stumbled again when a 4-5 year loving relationship ended. And again when I quit a HOD position. And again and again. But, boy, have I grown immeasurably through it all. Growth and the pains of growth require a few stumbles. The UBC Day 6 email prompt suggests we share about a time we stumbled. I think my biggest stumble in the past few years has been closing shut the gates that make me vulnerable.
Free bird is what comes to mind when I think about whom I was before the stumble.
It wasn’t a one hit situation that led to this inability to share the deepest parts of me like I did before.The innocence of mind and heart was quite euphoric. I assure you that it was my happiest state, but life happens and purity gets tarnished. Thankfully, not to the point of no return.There are two recitals that remain fixed on my mind from my primary school presentation. (Yes, as far back as that) They were my parts/roles in the presentations in which I’d nervously participated.“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”And“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”Faith was my sustenance through those stumbles and it will be my sustenance through any other stumble to come. As I type this, Nelly Furtado’s I’m like a Bird comes playing through my mind.Through my stumble experience I’ve come to learn that when we put on high heels we’ve got to be careful how we step. This very lesson comes with the sense of maturity that we can’t ever really be totally free in a sense of the word. So, it’s kitten heels and block heels for me now again. It’s always solidly balanced. And, btw, my feet fall in such a way that stilettoes go awry with only about two full wears; if I survive the full wears.What’s a full wear? A full day of stepping continually in those heels; like a long distance half-the-day walking in 4-5 inch heels. Even though I wear block heels now it does not mean I won’t aim high, but that I will strive to maintain a solid balance as I do. How many times have you stumbled? Have you learned from it? How has your stumble shaped you?
