The Next Right Thing
- Lauren Shaw, PhD
- Jun 22, 2015
- 3 min read
My husband and I recently bought a house. The first time we saw it, our realtor told us it "had a lot of potential,” which turns out to be code for “needs a lot of work before you can live in it.” So we have been deep in the process of remodeling, tearing out carpet and cabinets and counter tops, and buying things like doors and toilets. It’s a lot of fun, and it is completely overwhelming. Every now and then it stops being fun and just gets overwhelming. We get lost in our list of all the choices we need to make, all the things we need to buy, and all the work we need to do.
In those moments, the last thing we need to do is to step back and look at the big picture of the house. In those moments, we just need to look at the next right thing. What is the next task or purchase or project? What is the next right thing we need to do? We take that step and then the next, and we are back on track.
There’s that old phrase that advises us not to lose the forest for the trees, but I have noticed that it is every bit as dangerous to lose the trees for the forest. We are reminded to keep sight of the big picture in almost every sphere of our lives. In parenting, we are told to keep in mind the kind of children we want to raise and the core values and character we want to instill. In our jobs, we are challenged to keep sight of our overarching goals and visions. In our physical, financial, emotional, and relational health, we are told to keep the big picture in front of us so that we know where we want to go and can plan our steps accordingly.
And this is good advice. It’s really good advice. I am all about living with purpose and intention and direction. But sometimes that good advice is just too much. Sometimes staring down the whole future, our distant goals, or our giant task is just too much. Sometimes looking at the big picture is so overwhelming that it is immobilizing.
So often what we need in life is to just take the next right step, one step at a time. When I started grad school, I remember thinking that I had ten semesters, four summer sessions, my comprehensive exam, multiple practicums, internship, and my dissertation to get through. It was just too much. But when I looked away from the forest, I could see the trees in front of me. What did I need to do to prepare for my classes tomorrow? I couldn’t manage it all at once, but I could manage it one piece at a time.
Life can often feel overwhelming. Managing finances, losing weight, parenting, relationships, jobs, applying for college, moving, even just tackling a busy week ahead. So often it is just too much to manage or handle all at once. But what we can do is the next right step. We can do the thing that is right in front of us, we can make the healthy choice in that moment.
Oftentimes we feel anxious because we are attempting to manage a whole task all at once, to live a whole week with only the energy we have in that single moment, as if we are trying to eat a whole apple in one bite. We can’t manage all that, but we can live the moment we are in right now. We can take one bite at a time. By doing the next right thing, by taking the next right step, we can often accomplish more than we could ever imagine.
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