You can try pushing the limits but sometimes the limits push back. Some seasons in life can feel like you’re trying to push water up a hill, and that’s not easy. At least Sisyphus had something solid like a rock.
Then other times it’s best to ease up on the pushing and just let that water flow. And that’s not easy either.
Have you ever been plugging right along then out of nowhere you hit a wall? That’s what happened to me and my writing about a month or so ago.
BAM! Wall. Ouch.
Writing has become hit-and-miss for me lately. Not that anyone is counting, but I haven’t managed to finish and publish a post for a number of weeks now.
It’s not that I lack for ideas. I’ve got over three hundred of them cataloged away in Evernote. When I’ve scrolled through them lately though, it becomes a series of…
“No, that’s not it.”
“Nope, I’m not feeling it.”
“No, that’s not gonna work.”
You get the idea. I’ve had nothing and I’ve got nothing! I’ve mostly had nothing or I’m just not feeling it lately. So… what to do?
I found the following two “tips” in a list titled, “How to get unstuck.”
- Pick a direction and push forward.
- Keep pushing forward, clarity will come.
I’m here to tell you, those tips didn’t work for me, and clarity did not come. On the writing front, clarity has gone AWOL.
I love this quote from @gapingvoid. I’m not sure what it means because it can mean a lot of different things. So, it found a home in my collection of multipurpose quotes.
Push the edges until the edges push back.”
–@gapingvoid
Sounds like a mantra for the Hustle Culture, doesn’t it?
What exactly does it mean though? It could be anything from an adage for laying carpet to a platitude for a motivational poster. For some reason, I still like it.
My first thought is along the lines of pushing the limits—something we all do from time to time. Pushing our limits can lead to a breakthrough or exhaustion, or both.
There’s no question… I’ve been pushing the limits lately.
I’ve written a lot over the past year about our journey of building our new home. Going through the final few months has been all about going full throttle as action items and “homework” come rolling down the hall.
We’re nearing the end of what’s been the most demanding project of our lives. Although intense at times, it’s been rewarding and a ton of fun.
All while managing to avoid both the hustle and the Red Bull.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before… You know I loathe the hustle culture mostly because humans aren’t wired to perform at that level for any extended amount of time. If you try, you burn out quickly and feel like a failure. The apparent remedy is adding a Red Bull habit to your regimen.
Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism and Effortless, says—
When we are constantly pushing ourselves to go the extra mile, we never actually reach the finish line.”
Then I found some existential wisdom.
While I was searching through my aforementioned notes (and yes, that’s a $50 word that we don’t use in normal speech, but I still love it for some weird reason), I also came across this gem from Albert Camus in The Stranger…
… In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
You can read the full text here.
My writing troubles make some sense in the greater scheme of things.
The first is to recognize and accept that a change in a season of life will have its own resistance and rewards.
Seasons in this life can last from months to decades. Our relocating to Santa Fe and building the house required a huge change in the rhythm of our days and a mountain of persistence for the past two-plus years.
And that persistence has been the key… along with a willingness to go with the flow even when we thought we could force the flow. (We couldn’t.)
And finally, with the changing rhythm, we learned to make room when room needed to be made. In these past few months, that need to make room would come without warning with a text or a phone call…
Followed by a new agenda for the day.
Seasons change. Rhythms get forced offbeat. Plans can be at the mercy of the four winds.
We’ve made some room for the unplanned and unexpected and believe it will all work out.
The next time you find yourself in a season where you feel like you’re trying to push water up a hill… remember that sometimes it’s best to open the gates for a little while and just let that water flow.
Be untucked, my friend.
p.s. Know someone who might like this post? Maybe forward it or share it on your favorite social media platform. Thanks…
Copyright © 2023 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved – written using human biological algorithms
Interesting post, Jeff. But here’s a thought: You describe “hitting a wall” as a blockage, a cessation of information and ideas. What if instead … the wall held valuable information, but it’s unrecognizable from where you’re standing? What might the wall be trying to tell you? How do you go about hearing that message?
Dan, you’re hitting on one of my favorite tenets for an untucked life… “The interesting thing about most anything in life is that the story can change quite a bit depending on what angle you view it from.” Hitting a wall doesn’t need to be a “hard stop.” If the wall is trying to tell you something, and you’re not hearing it, move to a different location relative to the wall. A change in perspective can do wonders when facing a wall. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I had to ponder this one for a while. #beUntucked