Why We Get Back On

Every stumble is a signpost, signaling you back to something you already know

Morning walks through the Midwest.

No later than 5 AM, the sun clocks in for its second shift, like it has for billions of years before, and will for billions more after.

With the dew point high and humidity sitting quietly on the horizon, there’s a warmth that wraps around you without asking anything in return. Moments like this are how nature reminds us, she’s been our mother all along

For those quiet hours, I gather myself.

I breathe.
I look forward to another beautiful day.
I look at the sun, put my palms together, and ask for strength.

“Falling off the bandwagon” is a phrase that’s been used to death. It gets tossed around for everything from a cheat meal gone haywire to a drug relapse. We've all fallen off, in one way or another.

I'm not here to tell you to get back up.

You already know you will, because you have many times before. And if you fall again, chances are, you'll rise again, too.

What I want to say is, the next time you fall, remember why you got on in the first place.

Was it your family? Friends? A version of yourself you're trying to find again? A love you lost or still seek?

The reasons are numerous and unique.

And when the dust of failure settles, it’s those reasons that pull us forward. Not willpower. Not motivation. Just the memory of the why.

The number of times we fall isn’t about luck or timing. Sometimes we just fall. Some of us more than others. I’ve seen it in myself, and painfully, in my elders.

I’ve watched them stumble again and again, like I have. Each fall silently reminds me what’s ahead if I don’t make peace with my reasons for trying.

Viktor Frankl once said, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”

The "whys" evolve over time, but at their roots, they’re usually the same for all of us.

Love, health, peace, financial stability, freedom. The list isn’t long.

But the path to them is rarely simple. It's there, in the mess of trying and failing, that we live out our real stories.

So if you’ve fallen off again, don’t just climb back on.

Look behind you.

Find your “why.”

Let it carry you home.

With love,
Anand
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📷 With Autumn in Galena, IL. The city was the home of former President Ulysses S. Grant, commanding general of the Union Army during the Civil War. His leadership was integral to the North’s victory over the Confederacy and the preservation of the United States of America.