Keeping in Step

One year ago 19 January 2025

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

At 6 weeks and 2 days into this random unplanned adventure I am down to three days until the cast comes off (Wednesday!!) and hopefully I’ll be able to be at least partial weight-bearing. As I’m in the house on another beautiful, snowy Sunday with Facebook reminding me of wintry hikes in recent years on the same day, I could be sad, but somehow I am not. 

That evening when I misstepped and broke my ankle, here’s how my thoughts went: 

• “Ooooh, that’s not good”, as I was still mid-fall. I just knew. 
• “I guess I won’t be enjoying that cuppa coffee”, also mid-fall as the coffee left my cup into the air. 
• “Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t break my beautiful coffee mug.” 
• “Maybe not the mug, but I’m 99.8% sure my ankle is broken.” 
• “I am not going to let this pull me under, drag me down, take me to a dark place.” 

That last thought, as I sat on the snowy ground, holding my leg to get my foot off the ground and rocking back and forth with the pain, may have been part of the 

“…somehow I am not sad” reason. I know me. I know my tendency to look at the glass have empty, to worry about what I have no control over, and to find myself in a place where depression crowds out joy, and anxiety creates chaos in my thoughts and reactions. 

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength—carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time.” — Corrie Ten Boom

Taking it one day at a time.

Just one step at a time. 

That’s all I needed to do. 

Rest. 

Heal. 

Adapt. 

Find Balance. 

When I shifted my focus from what seemed like disaster to what I could learn from this, from thinking “this will be forever” to “it’s a season of change and growth”, it helped. 

My anxiety stayed quiet. 

My depression was controlled. 

Joy showed up. 

Strength found a

My coffee mug from that evening isn’t a reminder of an unfortunate accident, but a reminder of being cared for and sustained even in the midst of falling. God shows up in crazy ways like that. I don’t understand it, and it’s not always as easy as maybe this makes it sound, but again, I know me and I know where I could be right now, how miserable these past weeks could’ve been. 

I am thankful. 

Onward. 

Love, Dianne