My Third Time Learning To Walk

And of course walking leads to spending at a toy fair.

DAY ONE

After six weeks of zero weight bearing, I lost faith in my right leg.

It’s strange when something you once did without thinking now requires thought. When your brain decides you can’t do it anymore, even if you’re told you can — and you should — you can’t.

After much persuasion, I let my right foot touch the floor and stood on both legs — my first in six weeks. I was thrilled. The action rewired my brain, firing the breaking news to the rest of my body: “THE RIGHT LEG IS BACK! THE RIGHT LEG IS BACK.”

Yes, my right leg is back — to carrying 50% of my weight as I stand.

But my right leg needs to bear 100% of my weight before I can walk.

Did you know you need to bear 100% of your weight on each leg to walk? I forgot, and then I got reminded.

WEEK ONE

Walking is shifting weight from one foot to another. A heel should strike the ground first, followed by a roll through the foot to the balls of the foot, and then a push off the ground with the toes as the other heel lands.

Learning to walk for the third time takes me back to the Joyful Garden Sangha’s Day of Mindfulness when I did mindful walking.

There’s nothing to do, nowhere to go.

Just my weight and my weighty gratitude for being able to walk again.

WEEK TWO

One day, while walking, an image of an old lady buckling under the weight of her torso came to me.

I was petrified — was that my future?

But as quickly as it came, I blew it off—what’s the point of worrying about a possible future?

I’ll control what I can control.

WEEK THREE

Walking in the park wasn’t a walk in the park — not for someone who hadn’t walked for a while.

But feeling the breeze on my skin, avoiding snails along the path, and greeting dogs (and a rare hissing cat) — all of it felt freeing.

It’s been a while since I’ve tasted the freedom of movement.

WEEK FOUR

The craziest thing?

Once you can walk again, without worrying that your legs will give out, you quickly — almost too quickly — forget that you’ve only just regained this ability.

There are so many shiny things that steal your attention away from the simple — but really not so simple — act of walking.

If there’s one thing we humans truly excel at, it’s taking things for granted.