Pebbles

There is a pebble in my shoe. I feel it in every step I take, it has
bothered me all day, I’ve had many opportunities to take it out but
have not bothered enough to stop, bend down, take my shoe off, find my
balance on one leg and shake out the pebble.

What keeps me almost content about keeping this pebble in my shoe is
the idea that when I get home and take off my shoes I will take it out.

However deep down I know that when I do get home I will be so keen to
get on my Uggs that I probably won’t even take the time to shake out
that pebble, because it’s not bothering me now.

The next time I wear those shoes I will know they have the pebble in
them and slip them straight on continuing with my initial mindset of the day the pebble was first in them.

However what if there was another pebble in there now? Two pebbles.
Would that constitute enough motivation for me to stop, bend down,
take my shoe off, find my balance on one leg and shake out both the
pebbles?

Sometimes we let things go that have such simple solutions initially.
why is it we need to accumulate the pebbles in our shoes before we take
the time to stop, bend down, take our shoe off, find our balance on one
leg and shake out all our pebbles?

I've become somewhat complacent of my pebble, even almost accepting it by walking in a way that accommodates the discomfort so the pebble is a bit more tolerable.

I have every intention of removing it for I know its not meant to be there.
But I need to seize time to stop, feel comfortable enough to take off my shoe, find my own balance on one leg and shake out my pebble so its no longer mine. Left visible on the pavement, put back on my shoe and learn to walk properly once again without my pebble.

Anne Archer
June 2014