Hello. My name is Bethany, and I fall a lot.
If you know me at all, you know that I’m pretty prone to falling… a lot.
I’m clumsy, like all the time.
I was this way before the race, but ever since I have been overseas, I just can’t seem to keep my feet on the ground.
I could tell you at least one story of an epic fall for every month and every country so far.
We had been in Lesotho for less than 24 hours and I already acquired a fall story for the month.
Our first full day here started with eating breakfast and drinking coffee while looking out at the breathtaking view from the porch of the ministry site where we have set up camp for the month. While eating breakfast, we found out that we needed to get dressed up to go meet the Chief of the Valley and the Chief of the Village. Naturally, we got excited, as anyone should when about to meet a local chief, and we proceeded to put on our long dresses and skirts.
As we begin our walk, we couldn’t help but be awe-struck by the picturesque scenery around us.
We walked to the first chief’s house with no problems. The chief kindly welcomed us to the village, and we made our way to the second chief.
Now, this is the part where we discovered just how rocky and slippery Lesotho could be.
After trekking through a few rough patches of rocks and pointy plants, we arrived at a creek that didn’t have much water in it due to the droughts. As we walked through, we stepped over the small puddles of water between the slippery and mossy rocks that surrounded.
It only took a few minutes for me to eat the dirt. No, literally, EAT the dirt. Dirty water filled my mouth as I went head first in to a puddle after slipping on one of those tricky rocks.
Naturally, I just laughed like normal, because reality is that falling is just something I do, and, if you ask me, I do it quite well.
My black Maxi dress was now covered in brown and grey spots of mud and dirt.
My squad mates around me laughed and commented about how I chose to roll around in the middy water instead of just jumping right up.
After my spill, I laughed, hiked up my now heavier dress from the water that filled it, and proceeded on our journey.
As I walked, I thought of how everyone around me was saying how they admired how I just get right back up and keep going, and how I just laugh it off. I thought, “you know, this is who I am, I fall a lot. I’m not perfect, I’m not put together, and you know what, I like it.”
Reality is, that I am a clumsy girl who often has cuts and bruises from some recent spill or tumble.
In the past, this is a part of me that I hated, a part of me that I was embarrassed to embrace. Now, It’s part of me that I actually like, It’s a part of me that I embrace. And you know, It’s something that has become contagious. My teammates and friends around me laugh right along with me when I fall, in fact it’s become a staple in conversations I often have.
And yes, I did fall a second time, just minutes after the first. This time the fall was even more intense and even more mud covered my dress. We laughed even more and the joy of our journey just increased.
Who I am is exactly who I should be, and even though the clumsiness in me isn’t perfect, it’s apart of me that I embrace, and a part of me that The Lord, my creator, loves.
So, welcome to Fall Club… where we embrace who we are, all the ups, all the downs, and everywhere in between.
