Learning to Walk (Again)

     My grandson recently learned to walk for the first time, and I learned to walk for the second time.     
     For him, he’d grown so adept at crawling that the awkwardness of walking didn’t seem worth it. For me, I’d grown adept at dragging a heavy boot around after I broke my foot. But as my foot healed, the thought of trying to walk again was scary. Would I have the strength? The balance? The answer was “no.”     
     For both of us, walking meant giving up what we’d grown accustomed to. It meant being uncoordinated, unbalanced, forcing muscles to do things they didn’t like. But it was worth it.     
     Which makes me wonder whether I might be holding onto other things in life because they’re familiar. Habits I developed as accommodations for getting by. Activities that are adaptive devices that I don’t need anymore. Relationships that are crutches instead of true friendships.      
​     Do I need to let go of such supports and “step out” in new ways?     It will be scary, but it will be worth it.