This is how we go on: one day a time, one meal at a time, one pain at a time, one breath at a time. Dentists go on one root canal at a time; boat builders go on one hull at a time. If you write books, you go on one page at a time. We turn from all we know and all we fear. We study catalogues, watch football games, choose Sprint over AT&T. We count the birds in the sky and will not turn from the window when we hear the footsteps behind as something comes up the hall; we say yes, I agree that clouds often look like other things - fish and unicorns and men on horseback - but they are really only clouds. Even when the lightning flashes inside them we say they are only clouds and turn our attention to the next meal, the next pain, the next breath, the next page. This is how we go on.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- We cope with life by focusing on small, immediate tasks and ignoring larger fears.
- In plain terms
- We get through life one small step at a time.
- What can you take from it?
- Focus on immediate tasks to manage overwhelming life.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you cope with pain?
- Is distraction a valid survival strategy?
Another view
It suggests avoiding fear rather than confronting it directly.
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Do you know how cruel your God can be, David. How fantastically cruel? ...Sometimes he makes us live.
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