The Step

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

This wisdom attributed to Lao Tzu is easily understood. To begin requires courage.

What must also be acknowledged is that the same journey continues with one step. Sometimes it asks more courage to continue than to begin.

I recently completed my spring book tour, the first one in public in two years. I have done book tours and engaged with the public for over twenty years. It is one of my favourite aspects of being a mystery writer.

Usually what is required of me is organization, presence, creativity, stamina, and eloquence (at least that’s the plan). This time, I needed intention and patience and stability. I needed to learn to surf and pivot. I needed to keep taking a step.

And I wasn’t alone in this.

The organizers of the events were navigating the hosting of their first public events in two years. Equally so, many of the attendees told me the same story in their lives.

We were all taking the step to continue.

The step to continue is one of exploration: What now lies ahead? Is the life we had before we paused really still there? Is what is left from the days of challenge redeemable?

Unlike the beginning of a journey where all lies ahead, the step to continue is a pivot point on a balancing scale with just as much behind as ahead.

But in life we must always go forward, never backward. And life is movement, pausing where needed with our craft pulled into the shallows for a rest but with the goal of joining the river again with renewed intention.

As we move forward, we acquire—new experiences, new thoughts, new people, new things. And the key piece in successfully acquiring in life is to equally know what and when to let go. Yes, sometimes life makes those decisions for us.

It is understandable for us to think all this should come naturally. We’ve done a hundred versions of this in our life journeys, just not on such a major stage as this one. It is also understandable for us to believe that the measure of success here is the reclamation of our former normal when deep down we know that it is already memory. In fact, some of it is myth. Again, we have done this assessment many times before, just not in such a shared community experience.

Dr. Tam is tapping her pencil again, talking about more variants and our seventh wave. It is here. But it arrived in a society and a people much different that the one the first virus did two years ago. We have changed. And now we are getting on with our lives.

Each in our own way and our own time is taking the next step. The step to continue. The step to reaffirm our commitments to our journeys. The step of greater courage.

And as another old saying goes, “Watch that next step. It’s a big one.”

Talk soon,

Maggie