Walking is About Will
When a child is born with clubfoot, parents naturally have many concerns. Topping their list is, “Will he/she walk?”.
Understandably, they are concerned that the deformity will keep their precious baby from reaching that important and exciting milestone.
But here’s the thing: walking is about will, not form or structure.
Meaning that when children are developmentally ready to walk, when they have the will to walk, they will. If they are not developmentally ready, they won’t walk yet. If they are, no deformity is going to stop them.
Now, it’s true that children with significant and untreated deformities may not be able to walk into old age. Eventually, the deformity, whether it is an untreated clubfoot or a significant leg length inequality, may hinder how much and how long they can walk.
But having either of these deformities will not prevent them from walking initially.
Yes, it could be a little delayed, yes it could be, shall we say, not very pretty, but upright locomotion is part of human development and they will find a way to do it if they want to. That is what I mean by “walking is about will”.
Also, the toddler will not assess their own shapes, compare them to their parents or siblings, and question whether they have a problem. To them, it’s just the way it is, and they don’t make it mean anything about their capabilities or possibilities. They tend to accept the world as strange and wonderful as it can be.
The other thing that will not stop walking is failure. Babies will fail to walk multiple times before and after they learn to walk. What they won’t do is make it mean anything about themselves.
They haven’t been conditioned that failure is a bad thing or that failure means they will not eventually reach success. Or even that falling while walking could be a failure. To them, it’s just part of the process.
If it wasn’t, the baby would fall once and then decide “I guess walking isn’t for me” and demand to be carried everywhere so they never have to face failure again.
But because they don’t equate obstacles with failure and because failure doesn’t equate to “Not good enough”, they will simply keep trying until they succeed at what their will is demanding.
I did not fit the mold for orthopedics. I don’t have a typical surgical mentality. I hadn’t had any orthopedic injuries. I don't have an athletic bone in my body. I’ve never been fit and into sports. I’m female.
And yet, I wanted to do this thing. I was warned against it in medical school (not, thankfully, by anyone IN orthopedics, but by Internal Medicine residents and the like.) (And I did receive plenty of encouragement from attendings and residents in orthopedics.)
And because I didn’t fit the mold, I was concerned about whether I would fit in and whether I could do it. But I wanted it. My will wanted it. So I did it.
So the question is, where are you letting form or fear of failure dictate your path? Where are you not proceeding toward what you desire simply because you don’t fit the mold or are afraid of failing?
Because if a toddler can fall 100 times learning to walk upright, you can try a few new things and see how they work out.
