I know you well enough to know that you've-at least once... a day-had the urge to apologize for something that well, really you don't need to apologize for.
Picture me, hobbling among the Arizona Foothills.. in fact, it might just be easier to picture a crippled Tibetan monk and add a backpack. There! You found me! I thoroughly enjoy spending time climbing the hills, but I couldn't help but feel self-conscious. Why you might ask? A flare up of some juvenile arthritis in my left ankle causing me to ginergly, oh so gingerly, cascade down the mountain slopes like a woman who is literally holding all the time in the world in her backpack. It's embarrassing. But why?! Every time I encountered someone on the same path as me I wanted to explain myself, "I don't actually usually travel this slow, it's just that, well, my arthritis doesn't usually do this to me, you know, I can walk faster than this-but it's swollen... it hurts."
I imagined that people were snickering behind my back about the "that girl who is sooooo afraid of falling". Nooooo, I promise I'm braver than I look! It's just... THIS... FOOOOOT!!! I even thought about how much easier it would just be for all of us in the mountains-wildlife included-if I just wore a t-shirt that said "I've got arthritis okay?!" Then everybody wouldn't have to wonder about the helpless girl who could use a walking cane. Or a scooter. Or a para-glider.
Isn't that dumb? You don't have to apologize to anybody for whatever you're working with! And honestly, probably nobody has even noticed anyway. The people I met probably didn't realize, or care to give my sight more than a second of thought. Stop worrying about what anybody else thinks! Go and hike!
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