What do we do when we fall?
Get Back Up
We have a family Motto: “What do we do when we fall… Get back up.”
I honestly think it came from one of the Dark Knight movies. Bruce Wayne, as a child, has fallen into some sort of deep pit. His father, who repelled down to get him, takes him in his arms; and as they ascend, he lovingly reminds him, “Why do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”
As my daughter was polishing her walking and running skills as a little one, she would inevitably fall; and I would scoop her up and say, “It’s ok to fall, we just get back up.” Looking back at the movie quote, I really like that sentiment better. But, either way, the feeling of “we all fall” is there.
What I am coming to realize, though, is that society (and myself) really focuses on the “getting back up” part, and there is a feeling of hurriedness to the rising - that personal strength equates to how quickly you rise from a fall. However, I have begun to understand that hurriedness, for me, is an overwhelming feeling of, “Nope!” Learning to pick yourself up is a long and ever changing road, and there should not be a stopwatch on how quickly you get there. Some falls are easier than others to recover from. When we physically trip and fall, our bodies let us know when it’s ok to get back up…or not at all. If you have a broken leg, you’re not getting back up, at least on your own. But if we have a broken spirit, we often do not give ourselves the same grace. We don’t ask someone to help us, we don’t take time to heal, we don’t learn.
I think our family motto is really leaving a lot to be desired. It’s not about the rising, it's the journey we take to the ascension that is important. You don’t have to get back up right away. You can sit there and make sure you’re ok. You can ask for assistance and actually only rise because someone else lifted you. You are no less on your feet if someone else had to get you there.
That’s probably why Batman as a character has never resonated with me. He does always “get back up,” but it’s always too soon and he never asks for help. (Though, the plot of the Lego Batman movie does have the character examine these specific issues.)
So when I look at our family motto, I think I need to rework the wording…
“Falling is just the opportunity to learn how to rise.”