My oldest daughter used a term this past weekend describing her resilience on an issue. She said, “I was 10 toes down.” I had never heard the term before and thought it worthy of a blog post.

It means digging in and not surrendering. It means to be ready. If you have ever played a sport, be it, football, tennis, track, baseball, you will understand the term. In baseball, if you are standing in the batter’s box and the pitch is coming, you have dug in your toes getting ready to take the swing, hence the term 10 toes down. It means you are committed to what you are about to do. If you run track or getting ready to hit a tennis ball, you are on the balls of your feet with your toes dug in. You are not laying back on your heels.

Outside of sports and in life, there are times and situations that do not demand your full attention and then there are moments when you have to take a stand. It is a metaphor that in those moments you are 10 toes down in that situation.

Think of it this way, you can’t fight in flipflops. There is no traction in flipflops. You have to be able to grip your toes down in order to fight. So the next time you wear flipflops just know that you will not be ready for something to happen. Ha.

People can laugh at me all they want, say things about me all they want but if they say something about my family or my God, I am going to be 10 toes down. Love ya. KT