Many mornings, lying in bed and not wanting to get up, I tell myself, “Time to get up. Time to take one step.” This is not an inspiring mantra or motivational affirmation. Just a simple reminder that, even if I can’t see where the day will take me, even if I have no control over the world I’m stepping into, I have this one simple thing to do: Take one step.
In his now iconic 2005 Stanford commencement address, Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
In these turbulent days, we can rarely predict what the next hour holds, much less next week or next month. For those of us who are used to living in an orderly and planned manner, this accelerated pace of change, this chaotic present in which we find ourselves, is disorienting. Not only is it difficult to know whether we are on the right path, but many days we’re too overwhelmed to know if we’re on a path at all. Some days, this makes it hard to get out of bed.
That’s where the trust comes in. Thomas Berry, in The Dream of the Earth wrote, “The universe in its emergence is neither determined nor random, but creative. This word creative is among the most mysterious words in any language. As with our words in general, this term, too, has been trivialized. Its numinous and its magic qualities have been diminished, also its visionary quality.” The universe continues to evolve, and a new dream of the Earth is emerging through the creative chaos of our times. We understand creation, creativity, to be good—but perhaps we’ve misunderstood that to mean also pleasant.
Mr. Jobs is in good company with his philosophy about connecting the dots after the fact. St. Francis said something similar when he encouraged others to “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Catherine McAuley reflected, “Let us take one day only in hands at a time. Resolve to do good today and better tomorrow.” Anne Lamott, in her book on writing, tells this story:
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'”
When the day before us—when a whole year like 2020—overwhelms us, sometimes it is best to break it down into small increments. Take one step. Then take the next. Trust that the path is emerging as you (as WE) move forward.
—Jenifer Hanson, Prairiewoods director