Quicksand

I read somewhere that if you fall into quicksand the harder you fight to get yourself out, the faster you will sink.

The better way to survive is to relax your body and just let go. You will have more time to either be rescued or figure a way out.

Isn’t life like that also? You can fight the “battles” of life with every ounce of energy that you can muster up only to find that your efforts were wasted. Maybe there is a better way.

“Never give up or never give in” is sometimes a very stubborn and foolish way to face life’s challenges. Sometimes we need to stop the craziness of thrashing around in the quicksand and just let go. When you know when to let go, the answer to your problems may become clearer.

Stopping all the madness of the fight and stepping back from it is the first step in being able to see more clearly. Change is an inevitable part of our lives. It can be painful or joyous. We do decide how painful or joyous it is. That much we can control.

When it feels like you are struggling but you are losing the fight, maybe you need to re-examine what it is that you are fighting for. Living for the fight when it’s all that you’ve got may seem like an admirable way to live but it really isn’t. We don’t always need to be fighting.

Being present in the moment can help us to see solutions to the perceived problem at hand. It may turn out not to be such a huge problem at all. It may just be the ego wanting to control the outcome of events that were meant to be.

Maybe the changes we are facing are not so terrible after all. The reality may not be as tragic as our imaginations make it out to be. Fear can cripple us from being able to see clearly and may actually influence a negative outcome where a positive outcome could have happened.

Life is not meant to be a smooth ride. There are bumps in the road. Some can be avoided and others are like potholes in the center lane of a major highway; you cannot always navigate around them.

When it seems like your road is full of potholes, don’t allow it to keep you from seeing down the road to where the road gets smoother. Don’t get stuck in the pothole, navigate around it or if you cannot avoid it, allow yourself to hit it but keep moving forward.

It is easier said than done; this I know. I also know that when I look back, those potholes were not as bad as they could have been. I got through it and gained wisdom.

Another life lesson learned- and the journey continues.