One Day At A Time.

Years ago, my parents voiced a bucket list dream for our entire family to go to South Africa together.  It took many years for this dream to come true,  but this Christmas it did.  And the important words to me here are, “it took years.”

In our human, hurried, harried world this may seem negative.  But by taking years, by waiting for just the right time, we had the absolute perfect trip, the perfect ages of all thirteen in our crew, and we traveled to the absolute perfect place.   

And  for me, it was also the absolute perfect timing for me in my life, exactly what I needed. Not only was I with the twelve people I love most in the world, but I was reminded that we are very, very small beasts in God’s great big world. 

I spent time watching an elephant with her baby, watching a lion pride looking for food, watching a leopard run up a tree, watching a giraffe pause (and I swear look right at me), and even spent time watching a dung beetle rolling a ball of dung ten times its size……. and I felt so small. 

When darkness fell each night, we had to be escorted  to our rooms by a guide to keep us safe, and we weren’t allowed leave until daylight unless we contacted them.  During the day we watched the animals from our open-air safari vehicles and were quiet and respectful, visitors in their world.  We were told in advance of different animal’s warning signs to watch for, and that if we saw those signs we would have to leave.  

And I felt so small. 

One morning at sunrise before our safari I went outside to the deck of our room quiet in prayer, when suddenly I heard my husband calmly, yet strongly, tell me to come back inside, “There’s a Hyena right by you!”  And there was.  There was a Hyena right there just a few feet from me, and my heart skipped a beat.  But he went on his way and I watched him head down to the river in front of me. 

And I felt so small.

One night we were stopped admiring the sunset and taking photos when our guides saw a large cloud of dust in the distance.   We got back in our vehicles and drove towards it, and were witness to a large herd of Cape Buffalo crossing the river.  Probably one hundred of them.  It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

 And I felt so small.

Every single day these animals are just trying to survive.  Just trying to find food.  Just trying to protect their young.   These animals are truly living one moment at a time.  

I needed to recognize this.  Before this trip I was afraid of the rut I was in.  Stuck and sticky.  No clear path.  But now, now I realize it is ok to be in a rut.  This stuck point can be where I stop, pause and think.  And I realize, some days maybe I just need to be like those beautiful animals in South Africa.  Some days I just need to survive, to get through each moment, and know that in itself is ok.

So, as I scroll through social media posts declaring “New Year, New You,” and “What are you doing in 2025?”, now I am realizing I don’t need to know this right now.  I just need to know what I am doing today.

I hear my senior in high school wondering where she will go next year, and my senior in college worrying about what is next, and my sophomore in college wondering if she is on the right path, and I want to gather them all in my arms and tell them, “You don’t have to answer this today, it will come.” And while I know in their world this is hard to believe, maybe I can lead by example just a little bit by trying to show them my trying to take things day by day a little bit more.

Unfortunately, our society doesn’t make this mindset easy. Many of us start with an 18-year path we are following which gives us a plan; pre-school, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school.  But then the inevitable question….what next?  But the question doesn’t end with what college, what job, what career.  It never ends.  I am fifty-one years old and I still don’t know what is next.  But now I know that is ok.  Because today is good.  Today I am alive.  Today I am surviving.

And I close my eyes and envision those beautiful animals out there on the savannah and remind myself, “One day at a time!”, and that sometimes the best things really are worth the wait, and that the very best answers might come with time. 

So even though our world is a different world than that of the wild animal, I am going to make it a goal moving forward that when I am worried or stuck in a rut to realize that there is nothing wrong with a rut.  That a sticky stuck point is where I can stop for a minute, breathe, ground myself and slow down before taking my next step.

Because some days we just need to survive, and that in itself can be an accomplishment.