10,000 Steps Day 20 | Know When to Go and When to Stop

Last night, at bed time, Julia and I read A Ball for Daisy (affiliate link). It’s a sweet picture-only book about Daisy, a puppy who loves a giant red ball. The red ball is played with, snuggled, chewen on, and it’s taken to the dog park where a bigger dog pops it. Daisy is devastated. For pages, Daisy mourns the loss of her red ball. The colors go from primary to gray and there’s moping and slowness until the big dog brings a new, blue ball to the park for Daisy.

Happy ending, right?

Somehow, Julia didn’t see it that way. Instead, she saw only the sadness, only the heartache. By the time the lights were out and she’d had time to think about it quietly, she worked herself into an ugly cry. Like an I-can’t-breathe kind of cry. She was so worried and sad for poor Daisy, there was so happiness to be had at the end of the story, only pain.

I climbed in bed with her. I stroked her hair and rubbed her back until her breath slowed and she could open her eyes without wiping away tears. Her face was half lit by the small flashlight she sleeps with. And we talked through the book, the lessons to learn from it. The actual happy ending, how sometimes sad things happen by accident, how friendships can come from unexpected places.

I listened to her interpretation as the light reflected in her eyes. And I was still.

She needed me there, in that moment to be still and listen.

After I’d kissed her good night again, after I’d pulled the covers back to her shoulders, rubbed her hair one last time. Told her that I love her a million and closed the door I realized the importance of stillness. How essential it is to stop.

I know that this month is about the moving and going and stepping. It’s all important, I get that. But last night I got that stopping is just as important. Just as essential.

There is strength in the balance of going and stopping. And there’s even more power in knowing when to do both. My life is busy. I suspect yours is too. But finding the right time go fast and be efficient has to have room against my time to be still, listen to my children, snuggle close, take a hot bath, put my feet up. I have to find the time to stop. Last night, I saw the need for both movement and stillness.

As I keep moving forward and incorporating 10,000 steps into my days, there will be room for both the go and the stop. And while balance might be elusive, I know I can try.