Learning How to Float

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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When we stop struggling, we float.
Mark Nepo

I am ready to float.

Right here. Right now. Every day. Every minute. In the midst of aches and pains. In the midst of an upside down world. In the midst of perpetual change. In the midst of my empath’s heart breaking daily. I want to float. I want my muscles to release, my spirit to bounce and weave, and water to lift me up. I want the strength of my muscles to propel me into a realm of trust and ease.

Learning to Float

I have always loved water. The first thing I learned how to do in water was to float. If floating is a stroke, it was my favorite. Learning how to float was a lesson in surrender and focus and peace. It’s not about staying on the surface, it is about embracing what’s underneath — all that supports and sustains. I somehow understood it all already then. I would float on my back for hours on end watching clouds and thinking about nothing and everything. I still float every chance I get, though now I worry if my hair color will fade.

Life Lessons from Floating

Float don’t Fight.

When we are floating we are rolling with the tide. We are being carried to the shore. I was once told by a guide when rafting down the New River in West Virginia that if we were thrown from the boat simply turn to our back, raise our arms and legs, and trust the river to carry us to the shore. When I found myself thrown into the water, I floated and was able to be pulled back into the boat. Fear gave way to the current, and the current was, ultimately, a gentle force.

Relying on what’s around you is never a bad thing.

We don’t float alone. We float with the support of our community. We float with the strength of our knowledge, skills, and abilities. We float with the faith of our spiritual compass. We float with a courageous heart of vulnerability and humility. Our soft heart allows us to float. Floating carries us to safety.

When you are floating, it is easier to see beauty.

I believe in soaking it in. I believe in letting wonder and awe find a home in my heart. I believe floating lets me do that. When I am able to sit back and float, to be carried by something greater than myself, I am all in. I touch, taste, see, and feel. I breathe more deeply. I don’t miss mountain tops and miracles.