When We Fall, Why Get Up Right Away?

Last week, while on vacation in Florida, on the O2 Incentive Trip, I was playing with my baby and while we played, she tripped, but chose not to stand right away and it got me thinking – When we fall, why get up right away?

For the Shabbat/Sabbath part of our trip we moved out of the Disney resort into a hotel that was closer to the Chabad House/Synagogue so that my husband could attend prayer services (Since we can’t ride in a car on Shabbat the Synagogue needs to be in walking distance).  The hotel placed us on the 6th floor and with me still encased in my foot boot, traipsing 6 flights up and down to be able to hang out in other places in the hotel just wasn’t possible.  So I spent the entire 26 hours in the hotel room.

Being a perfect Mom, I forgot to pack toys and Mushka is an EXTREMELY active little one with her favorite pastime being emptying stuff -garbage cans, drawers, suitcases, dressers – what ever she can get her hands on. So to keep her entertained this meant lots of Mommy/Mushka play time.

Mushka’s favorite game is Peek-A-Bo, taken up a notch, me hiding somewhere and coming out with a “RAAWR”.  Every time I jump her she laughs uproariously. Shabbat morning, after nap, whilst waiting for my husband to come home from services for Lunch, found us playing a VERY exuberant game of Peek-A-Boo/RAAWR with Mush hiding in the closet and me jumping out on her.  At some point I moved to the couch and she was running the length of the room yelling “RAAWR”.

During one of her laps Mushka tripped over – and I noticed something interesting. She did not stand up right away.  She rolled on the ground, she lifted the bed skirt and peeked under the bed, she rolled again then got up on all fours, took a peek between her legs whilst on all fours then finally stood up.  All the while doing this she was still having fun – laughing and playing.

This got me thinking, we are always told – when you fall, stand up right away.  Have a setback in your business or your life? – get yourself going right away.  Keep moving forward – they say ” one step back, two steps forward” But maybe, just maybe this isn’t always the best route to take. Maybe sometimes jumping up too fast will leave you dizzy and disorientated and instead of “one step back, two steps forward” it becomes “two steps back, one step forward”

Think about this – maybe if we took the time when we fall to enjoy the surroundings, roll around and reevaluate our next move – wouldn’t that be more beneficial for us? Maybe we needed to fall because we were going in the wrong direction or too fast? Just because we fell doesn’t meant there isn’t beauty down there. There may be a better solution lurking under the bed or between your feet – looking at the situation from another angle is always helpful.

So next time you fall don’t feel the pressure to get back up and running right away.  Make falling a part of your greater plan.  Take the time to enjoy it while you are down there – don’t feel pressured to bounce back right away, do what you need to do and you may find that a different direction is best! I’m a firm believer of Everything Happens for a reason (which is why this necklace is my favorite), we just need to take the time to figure it out!

Have an amazing day!