Imagine you are outside walking with another, or maybe within a group. Have you ever had a teeny, tiny, itty-bitty little rock, pebble, stone, stick, twig, or some sort of fragment in your shoe? It is so subtle, yet so irritating. As you walk, you feel the tickle and the discomfort but you keep moving. Maybe you think it will shift or you can just forget about it and focus on the walk and people you are with. Surely, you should not stop the momentum for such a little thing. You shift your mind and it seems to go away for a moment, and then it keeps nagging and reminding you of its presence. Finally, you can’t take it any longer. You surrender to that itty-bitty nugget to pause to untie your shoe and release the minuscule menace! You feel instant relief.
You are now free to continue on with your journey, moving along with comfort and ease. Ahhh, that feels SO much better! Perhaps you even wonder why you waited so long?
It is an interesting concept of how powerfully annoying and agonizing itty-bitty aspects can be to consume an experience; as well as how instantly liberating it can feel once it is released. It is also interesting to think about the threshold and timeline that we allow the pressure to be applied upon us…both on the soles of our feet (in a literal way), and within the souls of our self (in a figurative way).
We can learn to get rid of the itty-bitty, toxic, and painful pebbles within our life. While it may seem ever so time-consuming, and sometimes even overwhelming to pause, stop the group, bend over, untie your shoe, take off your shoe, and maybe even your sock, and then reassemble it all again…the actions to discard the menace are always worth it.
As for the group you are walking/living with, they will get it, they will understand why you need to find relief along the way. They will patiently wait for you to do what you need to do to be comfortable again.
We often think we will inconvenience others if we take a moment out for our self. With this, I remind myself of a helpful quote:
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
― Bernard M. Baruch
You matter. Your feet soles matter, and your soul matters.
This is a non-paid endorsement, inviting you to examine and take inventory of the itty-bitty pebbles in your life that may be stifling, annoying, or rubbing you the wrong way. If this has been going on for a while, perhaps invite curiosity in to contemplate your threshold for holding on. Might you be able to release that irritating thought, habit, person, or activity to set your soul free in order to move through this world with the comfort and ease you deserve?
More on creating a balanced life, free from the itty-bitty irritations:
