It was 2015 and here I was.
On the verge of turning 30.
And I was moving back home with my parents in light of my newly single status.
This was not how I envisioned entering my third decade of life. In fact, it was the exact opposite.
I was supposed to feel like my life was coming together, not unraveling…
Well, the unraveling started to shift one slightly depressive evening, after I came home from my first date, since entering singledom.
He was a nice guy who I “met” online, but he was so much funnier on text.
Whether he was funny or not didn’t really matter though because I was a total mess.
As soon as I returned home and closed the front door, wishing I never had to go on anymore first dates, the tears came streaming hot and fast down my cheeks. I wanted to bury my feelings and shrink and hide, while watching Reese Witherspoon-esque romantic comedies, while eating gobs of peanut butter out of the jar, while wearing fuzzy socks, no bra, sweats, and a t-shirt with unwashed hair. And I wanted to do this for life.
But, the sad thing was, I didn’t even have the energy to do this in the moment.
So, I sprawled my body across my bed in my fancy date clothes, slumped over some pillows, and cried.
During this mini-meltdown, my Dad knocked on my childhood bedroom door, where I was hiding out, sprawled across the bed, feeling like a loser.
I pulled myself together, dried my face, and calmly opened the door, like everything was fine.
My Dad stared at me, with his round big gentle brown eyes, knowing I clearly wasn’t fine, and simply said, “Corinne, sometimes all you can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep going until you see more of your future and less of your past.”
He then quietly shut the door and walked away.
I was dumbfounded. When did my Dad get so wise?
I had no idea.
But I did know he was right.
I needed to start putting one foot in front of the other.
So, for the coming days and weeks that’s what I did, and you know what?
I found a new home.
I found new friends.
I found new hobbies.
I found new strength.
I found a new sense of self.
And gosh by golly gee, slowly but surely, I found a new friggin’ life.
You see – that’s the crazy thing about this thing called life – you don’t know where it’s going to go or where it’s going to take you.
But, you do know that you always have yourself.
And YOU can do hard things. You already have and you already are.
So you can do them again.
Sometimes you just need someone to tell you to put one foot in front of the other.
So – here I am – telling you – put one foot in front of the other …
And keep on going.
Because your future looks pretty gosh-darn amazing.
Originally published at corinnedobbas.com