After a tough spell, I’m noticing how much my feet have to do with things.

I’d just about worn out my tennis shoes, so recently I went out and bought new ones. I found the brand that generally works for me, pulled my size in the colors I liked, and bought some purple ones.

My neck of the woods has had some especially warm stretches lately, even as the light is fading sooner and sooner in the evenings. Walking in nature has benefits for nearly every aspect of health and wellbeing—not to mention our creativity. As I’ve been struggling, walking has become a nonnegotiable in short order.

But my new shoes were the wrong ones, lacking the type of arch support I needed. So after my first long-long walk, it felt like all the little muscles around my lower legs had seized up and were on fire.

It was time to get the support I needed.

Writing Prompt

I would describe my climb through my latest depressive spell just that way: a climb. It’s doing what I can to get my feet under me. It’s one foot in front of the other. And I mean all this literally and figuratively; they’re a package deal.

Writing’s not much different. A series, a book, and a sentence all get written the same way: one word then another.

Write around these topics a little bit. Here are some options if you’d like a place to start:

• For when you need to get out of your brain and into your body. Write about lacing up your shoes.
• For when you need to get your feet back under you. Make some lists. What tools and supplies do you have at your disposal? Who’s on your team? What’s working right now? Pause and read your lists when you’re done.
• For when you feel ready to move. Let go of leaps and bounds: what’s the very next minimally viable step?