Making a Mountain out of a Puddle
There I was, chaos to the left of me, certain death to the right... and an impossible challenge right in front.
What was I to do?
How would I surpass?
It sounds crazy, but the solution (and the problem) was nothing but a construct of my own mind.
We have to go back about 3 weeks.
It was a nice fresh Christmas Eve morning and I'd gone for a walk the New Forest with my little sister and her boyfriend Ed.
The sun was out and this was before the cold spell hit so it was kinda nice.
It had, however, been raining like a mofo for over week so everything was super soggy.
Back down that path in my photo was where the madness happened. We'd just crossed a brook and there at my feet was humungous puddle.
It stretched all the way across the path, looked too deep and went on for about 15 feet (shhh, I know it's not that big but just go with it!).
I thought, "Ok, I'm sure I can gently move around the edge through the mud,"
I tried on the left side....
Shit!
My shoe sank 4 inches into the mud... I didn't think it looked that deep ??
I tried again on the right side...
Double shit!
My shoe sank 6 inches into the mud... the ground is trying to eat me!
Ed tried to go the long way round into the woods, thinking the earth would be more firm off the beaten track.
No such luck.
Whilst jumping over a boggy little pool... the deceptive looking soil swallowed his leg halfway up the shin ??
The last turning was about 40 minutes ago, so we didn't want to turn back... but I also didn't want soggy feet for 3 hours until I got home.
We were just about to decide to turn back, when it occurred to me to try gently walking through the puddle.
"If it's as deep as I think it is... I can just stop, right?"
So, I start gingerly put one foot in.
...slowly followed by the other.
Tentatively moving forward...
Lo and behold!
It wasn't that fucking deep after all ????
While we were walking away, I realised how often I'd made similar mistakes in other areas of my life.
- See a problem/challenge/obstacle
- Try to avoid it
- Experience massive difficulty trying to get around it
- Finding out that it was never that hard in the first place
Life emulates mud puddle.
Tis the beauty of creation.
lol
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