Baby Steps

 This article originally published on the Cor-Tet Blog on November 18, 2021.

Baby Steps

That’s the term we use to describe incremental progress, and just doing a little to keep moving forward. Baby steps. “Just take tiny pieces at a time, work through the process, don’t get overwhelmed. Small progress is progress, nonetheless.” Enough baby steps, and you can get anywhere.

That’s all true, and good. But one of the key factors we so often miss (in so many things) is perspective. Sure, at the point where you can grasp the concept, “baby steps” are tiny and seem insignificant. Sure, our minds tell us, I understand that if I just take the sum of all those “baby steps,” I know I can trace real distance in progression. It’s just that those tiny steps can become so tedious, and seem so insignificant in the moment as to wear down even the most stalwart dedication into frustration, and sometimes even apathy.

Babies aren’t worn down by “baby steps.” Each step is a lurch of experimentation, faith, innocence, determination, fear, excitement… myriad emotions and sensations convalescing into energy and forward momentum. Babies fall a lot, when they’re taking those “baby steps.” Then they recalibrate, heave themselves back upright, and launch their weight forward again. There’s inevitably somewhere they want to go, somewhere they want to be. They mimic those around them that have already figured out how to get there, and then they throw themselves entirely into getting there themselves.

Sometimes, of course, they get hurt. Sometimes, that hurt slows them down, makes them take a little longer to right themselves, makes them hesitate before launching back into mastering the “step.” But inevitably, they are soon throwing themselves forward in space again, having calibrated just what muscles will keep them upright, just what force they can use to move that small step forward successfully. Eventually, and what seems to an adult mind far too quickly, those lurching “baby steps” are quickly replaced by the sounds of small running feet and laughter, and the tedium of mastering the “step” is a fond memory.

Those are the baby steps we must take. Hurling ourselves into the minutia of the task at hand with complete abandon. Experimenting without fear of loss, emulating those who have learned our path before we even knew it, and trusting that we will find the way to get where we’re going. It’s not just the size of the step. The spirit of abandon in pursuing the journey is what defines the step itself. It’s what builds, and teaches, and grows. Take the baby steps. And let them take you.

~DMG