Backward Steps can be forward progress

A friend recently told me, "I've let myself fall backwards a step. I'm working on it."

I told her I've recently discovered that backward steps are a powerful reminder of how beautiful forward progress is.

There were days in my life I wouldn't have recognized a backward step. All of my life was sort of backwards, so I was incapable, really, of even knowing the difference between forward and backward.

So what a gift it is, a sweet and precious gift, to know and feel, this is a backward step.

What a gift it is to know I am stepping into a place I no longer want to step. A place where I no longer belong.

What a gift it is to know I am stepping backward into a person I no longer want to be. A person I no longer am.

Backward steps aren't backwards at all when we recognize this is the wrong direction. In fact, in that case, backward steps are often the most powerful kind of forward progress.

Don't beat yourself up for your backward steps.

Celebrate that you now know the difference between backward and forward. And carry on.

Forward.