Need a Nudge?

It happens to all of us. We get stuck. Stuck in the mud. Stuck in the snow. Stuck in old offenses and even older fears. Stuck in our laziness. Stuck in our loneliness.

We're in a deep freeze right now (I'm sitting at the computer wearing sweater layers, knit slippers, and a winter scarf), with just enough snow covering just enough super slippery ice to keep everybody just a little on edge on the roads. Our small car is, we've discovered, a summer vehicle. It gets high-centered on snow heaps and hopelessly stranded in it's parking space as the snow mounts around it.

Our neighbors have been getting stuck, too. We're all kind of slipping and sliding around, alternately careening around corners and navigating the skating rinks that our parking spots have become. Cars have been abandoned all over town as drivers give up trying to navigate their way out of their predicaments.

The key to getting unstuck is to trick the tires into thinking they're on friction-friendly ground. Sometimes just a crank of the wheel, changing the direction they're facing, is enough to get them on the move. Driving a teensy bit forward, and then a little bit back, might do the trick, too. Two steps forward, one step back. Repeat.

But sometimes all of the cajoling in the world won't work. In that case, a little more force is required. Force in the shape of a friend, or two, or (as in one case down the street this week) six. Said friends, by forcibly rocking the vehicle back and forth while it's in gear, can get a trapped car unstuck in no time. It takes a lot of effort (much more on the part of the friends pushing than the vehicle owner behind the wheel, come to think of it), but it works!

If you're really in deep all of the efforts of well-intentioned heavyweights might leave you stranded. In that case, the really big guns, the tow-truck drivers, might need to be called in.

Are you stuck? Maybe you've already tried the easy stuff: changing your approach to the problem, going back over hard won understanding and trying again. Maybe you've left off caring and have abandoned the struggle all together. Or maybe you just need a shove ~~ someone to get in your face and none-to-gently push you out of the slippery, rut-stuck, spot you're in.

It happens to all of us, right? We grow complacent and bored. We shrivel away in bitterness and small mindedness. We become self-indulgent and self-satisfied.

Do we have the courage to pop our head out of the window of wherever we are and call for a hand? Will we, when our friend shows up to throw their weight at the challenge, extend them gratitude instead of annoyance or rejection? They are the ones, after all, risking the heart attack!

Whatever your ice patch, whatever your drift, there's a way off and a way out. You might have to ask for your friends' weighty assistance, but you don't have to stay put. You can get moving again.