How to Get Back Up

Step One: Get knocked down.

By life, by your best friend, by a dog’s embrace, by a harsh word thrown at your unsuspecting heart.

It’s going to hurt, this getting knocked down. Maybe just a little, like an ache in your chest. Maybe a lot, like a compound fracture or lemon juice in a paper cut. Maybe getting knocked down is going to hurt you so much that you don’t want to get back up, want to stay down where you know what it feels like. Where you know what color the bruises are and how deep you can push your finger on them before the nerves light up.

And that’s okay.

Step Two: Wallow. Get to know what it feels like, this being knocked down. Sprawled on your back on the pavement. Curled into the fetal position. Cradling your broken nose. Your broken heart.

Let it sink in.

Push the bruise until you feel it so deep in your bones that you don’t remember anything else. Pour peroxide in the cut and watch the impurities rise to the top. Relive every second of the falling.

Step Three: Breathe.

Breath is everything. So take one.

Step Four: Breathe.

Breath is everything. So take another.

Step Five: Blink.

Your eyes will be tired from the tears. So blink.

Step Six: Open your eyes.

You got knocked down. Why? Because the dog doesn’t know his own strength? Because your friend was mad at you? Because the universe threw you a curveball you could never have seen coming?

Appreciate the view.

You have a new perspective. You can see the stars and clouds better from this angle.

It doesn’t feel better — your bruise is still painted black and blue across your heart, after all — but there’s a quiet kind of beauty in it.

Step Seven: Sit up.

Your heart may hurt, but you can do it.

Step Eight: Curl your fists tight.

Tell the world, I can do it. Watch me do it.

Step Nine: Get ready.

Feel into the ache, lean into the pain, but don’t let yourself sink. You are a creature of bones and muscles and stardust — you can do anything. Just take another breath.

Step Ten: Get back up.