Kay:

Hey there Questers and welcome back. It’s Tuesday, January 12th and this is episode 267. We have a great quote for you today from Emily Kimbrough and she says, “Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it is a comfort to go hand in hand.”

Shi:

Man, this is one for me personally, (Shila here), is sometimes hard. I understand intellectually that we all stumble but when I personally stumble…

Kay:

She has a really hard time.

Shi:

I have such a hard time processing that and feeling okay and not tying my worth, if you listened to yesterday’s episode, with that success or “failure.” But that stumble is something that is a human phenomenon that we all can relate to in one way or another. So, by being hand in hand in others not only does that give you comfort in knowing you’re not the only one, but it helps you not fall down all the way.

Kay:

When we were preparing for this podcast, I was thinking to myself the visual of the very first time you ever go ice skating. You get yourself out onto the ice skating pond and, usually, you’re with someone who has you the very first time. You’re like a freaking baby deer out there. Your knees are going everywhere, you’re slipping on the ice, you can’t keep your feet underneath you. It’s crazy but how much easier is it to learn ice skating even if the other person is a newbie to have someone alongside you to lock that arm so that you both stay stable. Now, you might fall on your bum every once in a while but it’ll probably be at half the rate than you would before because it’s easier to learn. The baby deer, it is easier for you to learn to walk if it’s got other deer around to show the way.

Shi:

That’s a great analogy and when someone is there, even if they’re that newbie, when they’re stumbling and, whoa, you can maybe be that stability for them, and then vice versa. So, you get to have this reciprocity with others, and you don’t fall as hard. When you’re out there by yourself when you fall on the ice, you can whack so hard. Our dad had a fall once that will be ingrained in my memory forever on ice that he hits so hard you could hear his head. It was just one of those really scary moments for a kid to see your dad go through that. But if he was holding someone else’s hand, there’s no way that fall would have been so hard. You can’t always hold someone’s hand on the ice but on the ice skating rink of life, there are billions of people who are there and ready to hold your hand. There’s no ice trick in the world that you can do that hasn’t been done and failed and succeeded on that ice skating rink of life, which means someone can be there to hold your hand, to coach you, to help you, to stabilize you and ultimately help you not stumble quite so hard.

Kay:

Now, on the crazy off chance that we have an Olympic ice skater that is planning on competing in 2024 or listening to this podcast you can absolutely figure out something that’s never been done before on the ice.

Shi:

You can do it!

Kay:

You can do it and I look forward to watching you doing that. For the rest of us, it’s already been done so find somebody to come alongside you. What’s cool about the longer that you stay on the ice of life with someone who can be that stabilizing force for you the quicker you learn how that person needs to be helped in order to get up as fast as possible and you learn what you need in the process. Now, Shi, I feel like you and I are at a point where you stumble and I’m quick to lean down and help you back up and I stumble and you’re quick to lean down and it’s almost like… I wish you guys could see us right now. It’s like this ping pong of bouncing up and down because when one is lifted, the other can turn around and lift the other. Now we’re both on our butts, we’re screwed, but it doesn’t happen very often.

Shi:

We can still climb over each other to get up and help the other…

Kay:

We’ve done it before.

Shi:

…person up. So, just a reminder of what your quote is today. “Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it is a comfort to go hand in hand.”

Kay:

Got to love a journalist coming from Reader’s Digest and Home and Garden, all the good magazines out there that give you the warm and fuzzy. So, with that, we have a warm and fuzzy comfort quest for you today. We want you to get out there and connect with someone by sharing a struggle and observe how the connection comforts you and the other person and causes you to just broaden that perspective on the issue at hand. Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!