I can only imagine the rush she must have been in, the woman who left this artifact on a New York subway staircase. The sole of her shoe came off, but she kept going, leaving her sole behind. I know that in reality it may not have been a very romantic scene, more likely a disturbing one, but it just makes me think – sometimes it’s good to just keep going, even when you’ve left your sole on the staircase.
We sometimes move forward in life as though we’re walking under water against an undercurrent, engulfed in resistance. We make our way onward and things get torn from us. But we forge on, leaving the dead weight behind. It’s not easy leaving some of these things behind. Just as leaving the sole of her shoe behind almost definitely made walking more difficult, sometimes what we are forced to let go of in life can make it difficult to move forward. But we learn to adjust our gait, develop new patterns for ourselves and move on.
The sole on the staircase is a reminder of the parts of ourselves that have been torn from us, that we’ve had to let go as we push forward. Even if we feel like we’ve left our very soul behind on the staircase of life, we keep walking. We grow. We move on.
(Photo by Kelene Blake)
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