Lessons From the Dark Knight

"Why do we fall?
So we can learn to pick ourselves up"

Bruce Wayne's (a.k.a. the Dark Knight) Father

When was the last time you watched a toddler in action?  How many times a day do you think they fall?  Many I would say.  Sometimes the falls are worse than others.  Sometimes there are tears.  Most times though, after a second or two they are up and going again, fall forgotten.

As parents of young children we cheer this behaviour on, purposely not making too much of the occasional topple.  We console and kiss the boo-boos when necessary, but mostly we might say something like "you're okay" and encourage them to get back up and keep going.

At what age does the getting up from falls get harder?  When we fall less often? The falls are less, but the impact greater it seems.

Then come the other kind of falls. The emotional ones.  The hard lessons of "failure".  Many of our later falls are big, life changing ones.

Who is your cheering section when these happen?   Who is there to tell us that we can indeed get back on our feet and keep going and perhaps be stronger than we were before.  Your family, friends or children?

Don't be afraid of the falls for they will come.  Be your own cheerleader if you need to. Dust yourself off and get up.  Take care of any bruises. Start again. Stronger.

And instead of asking yourself why you fell, why you failed, ask yourself instead "what brave new thing can I try today?". (Cape optional).