What's the Next Step - Rebecca Perkins

When I was going through some tough times a few years back, I would often find myself panicking and catastrophising a situation. I was so in the middle of the issue that I couldn’t see outside of it.

Does that make sense?

I would spiral rapidly downwards and end up feeling exhausted and wretched. I would be unable to think with any clarity. I was unable to think creatively in a way that would enable me to see beyond the current ‘crisis’. I was worn out.

As I sat slumped on a chair with my head in my lap, tears pouring down my face, my thoughts spinning through yet another ‘catastrophe’, my coach sat right close next to me and simply said the following words,

‘What do you need right now?’

‘What do you mean, what do I need right now?’ I answered tersely. What kind of question was that anyway, how on earth was ‘what do I need right now’ going to solve my problem, I mumbled to myself.

‘What do you need right now?’ he quietly asked once more.

‘Well, right now I need a coffee.’ I replied in an extremely flippant way.

‘Then right now a coffee is what you need.’ And off he went to get me a coffee.

The extraordinary thing of course is that whilst he was away tending to my ‘right now need’, I did of course begin to relax, to breathe and to step back every so slightly from my ‘crisis’.

He returned with my coffee and sat down next to me once more.

‘What do you need right now?’ he asked

‘Well, I could do with a tissue I guess to wipe my nose and eyes.’ I replied smiling.

So do you see how it goes? Do you see that however enormous our ‘crisis’ is, it is managed one small, baby step at a time. It’s like the old saying goes ‘How do you eat an elephant?……One mouthful at a time’.

We get so hung up on looking far into the future and often seeing seemingly unscaleable mountains that we have to climb in order for our lives to be sorted out that we lose sight that giant steps and long journeys begin with a single step.

Next time you are faced with a crisis ask yourself this question – What do I need right now?

Let me know how you get on won’t you.