Falling. Consider this action verb from the context meaning to the observer of one who falls. If a toddler falls, we consider it a natural part of learning to walk, make light of the plop to the floor, and encourage the child to try again with exclamations of praise for each attempt. When a differently abled or frail elderly person falls, we respond from the perspective of fear, learned over time, from stories about those who have fallen and hurt themselves. There are no cheers or "oopsie daisies". The role of expected consequences or sequale colors our responses. I wonder if these messages might influence the outcome in each situation? As an older woman with a spinal cord injury, I see falls as an expected part of learning to walk again. It feels like being a toddler, wobbley at times, listening for the "uh oh" but instead, hearing "are you all right?", "are you hurt?", "can I help", "is anything broken?" I choose, instead to remember that I've done this before, go limp, and let it happen. and, to listen to the toddler within leave expectations as they are ... an inevitable part of (re) learning to walk. I sometimes have to make my own cheers as I get up and try again and again. I choose to not live in fear.

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"Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation."
-Charlotte Bronte

“For, he that expects nothing shall not be disappointed, but he that expects much - if he lives and uses that in hand day by day - shall be full to running over.” -Edgar Cayce