Walking as Belonging

We had an appointment with a professional who was helping us do some estate planning. They sent us an email the day before reminding us of the appointment and included a helpful message: give yourself some extra time.  Our building is hard to see from the road. Look for the sign, and follow the way in. 

We often find ourselves, even in the very common things of daily living, approaching spaces in which we are unfamiliar.  Actual physical spaces that are new and unknown to us create a visual.  Perhaps we approach a building we have never been in.  We stop and look for signs. Then, we go through a door, but after going in, we stop again. Do we keep going forward? Go left? Go right? It’s a sort of start and stop and start again proposition. Do I belong here? Is this the right way? And, when we finally find the place, person or spaces that we are looking for, a wave of relief comes over us.  This is where we belong, at least for now. 

The same can be said of new and unfamiliar ideas, information, individuals and circumstances.  The new and unfamiliar makes us hesitate, stop, start, stop again.  We wonder if we belong “here” with this set of ideas, people, or circumstances.  Ultimately, the only way to know if we “belong here” is by taking the next step. When we hold back, retreat or never even leave the safe places we are in, we simply cut ourselves off from new possibilities. Belonging is not just a good feeling that goes with safe places and people. Belonging is an invitation to venture out. Belonging invites us to new stories that we can only create and tell if we take the next step.

We belong in the walking. 

–Bob Patrick