The Backward Step

why progress isn't always forward, and what dance, tides, and breath can teach us about real growth

For most of my life, I’ve been a dancer.

On stage, in studio mirrors, and in my living room, I’ve learned that not all progress looks like moving forward.

In choreography, a backward step isn’t a mistake, it’s essential.

It creates space.

It sets up the next movement.

It adds rhythm, shape, surprise.

If you only ever move forward, you’ll end up crunched in a corner with nowhere else to go.

Some of the most powerful sequences I’ve ever danced started by stepping back.

the myth of constant progress

We’re taught to treat life like a ladder.

Every step should take us closer to success, improvement, optimization.

We measure ourselves by how far we’ve climbed, how quickly we’ve gotten there.

But the natural world doesn’t operate that way.

Neither does healing.

Neither does activism.

The ocean doesn’t just rush forward. It pulls back.

Not out of failure, but out of rhythm.

The retreat builds the next move.

The shoreline is shaped just as much by the ebb as by the surge.

Without the backward motion, there is no tide.

So why do we expect ourselves to always move forward? Why do we panic when we pause, regress, or circle back?

the wisdom of the breath

You cannot inhale forever.

Breath is only complete when it includes both the rise and fall, the expansion and release.

The exhale is not collapse, it’s the beginning of everything.

In dance, we learn this intimately.

Every jump is preceded by a bend.

Every turn begins in stillness. The body gathers, contracts, add then opens.

This is choreography. It’s intentional.

Growth is the same way. Sometimes we move by stepping forward.

Other times we deepen, retreat, reset. The rhythm matters more than the direction.

If you want to add your voice to the conversation, this is a good place to do it. I write every week, and I read the comments with care.

reframing the step backward

What if our so-called setbacks aren’t setbacks at all?

In Buddhist philosophy, the path to awakening is not a staircase, it’s a spiral.

We return again and again to the same lessons, but with new awareness.

We dissolve and re-form.

We deepen.

Sometimes, we have to step back to see the full picture.

To notice what’s been overlooked.

To shift our weight before the next turn.

Even in activism, stepping back can be an act of wisdom.

It allows us to reset, recalibrate, to dream differently.

The leap forward only lands because we first created space.

the dance

You are not here to move in a straight line.

You are a living system, dynamic, relational, responsive.

Your movements, forward, backward, or stillness, are not deviations but deep expressions of intelligence.

You are in conversation with time, rhythm, emotion, and the unfolding of life itself.

The step backwards is a devotion to the unfolding. The dance requires it.

The tides pull back.

The breath exhales.

The dancer returns to stillness.

All of these movements are sacred and necessary.

You are allowed to step back.

In fact, it might mean the music is about to change.

I read every reply. You don’t need to say anything “profound”—just write what’s true for you. Hit 'reply' or send me a message below.

Further reading:

The Sky That Holds Every Weather

Hopium vs. Doomerism

Like the Moon on Water

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With love, Bri Chapman