Being...Stuck

When I played soccer growing up in Puerto Rico, we didn’t have fancy pitches or amazing stadiums (I’ve seen some of the high school stadiums in Texas; Westlake High, I’m talking about you). Both teams usually walked the entirety of the field before we played, removing as many rocks as we could. It rained nearly every day (welcome to the tropics!), so the fields were often muddy. I mean “puddles of standing water” muddy. The ball would stop on a dime if it went into one of those puddles. And if you ran into the puddle to kick the ball, there was a chance you’d get stuck in the mud. The sucking-sound-of-a-shoe-coming-off kind of mud. Simply put, you’d be stuck – or your shoe would.

That’s how today’s newsletter feels…stuck. 🫠 Is this one of the worst analogies of all time? Very possibly. But here we are. I’ve racked my brain for something clever or insightful to write about this week, but I’ve come up with a big, fat goose egg. Zilch. Nada. Zero. In case you’re wondering, at this very moment in the writing process, I’m staring blankly at the corner of my ceiling where two walls come together. It’s not helping.

Will I be stuck forever? No, I don’t think so. But when we’re stuck, it can often feel that way. Like we don’t have options or choices. Like we don’t see a way out of the mud. Like the harder we try, the more stuck we get (wait…that’s more like quicksand than mud).

<Sigh> analogies run amok. That’s what happens when you get stuck. Wow, that unintentional rhyme really does suck.

Ok, ok…moving on. Sometimes we figure out how to get unstuck on our own. But sometimes we need the help of family and friends. And that’s ok. Sometimes we need someone to give us a little push to get unstuck. Sometimes we need someone to throw us a rope. And sometimes we just need to claw, dig, and muscle our way out of being stuck.

What am I trying to say? I have no idea. But maybe it’s that when we feel stuck, we simply need to keep moving forward, keep pushing through, or write some random nonsense. It’s easy to find ourselves stuck in a daily routine, in a funk or rut, or locked into a situation that seems untenable or inescapable. But sometimes we need to lose a shoe to…score…a…goal? Get stuck in the mud to…appreciate…being…not…stuck? Remove rocks from the field to…protect…the…rocks? Listen to stuck…in…the…middle…with…you?

Apologies, folks. Hopefully you don’t get stuck here too long. 🙃 

Until next week.

Cheers,

Andy

(All written content created the old-fashioned way.)