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Stuck in the Mud?

Pete Marsh, better known as Lindow man, was perfectly preserved in a peat bog that he got stuck in about 2,200 years ago, and even today, ‘Pete’ has a lesson to teach us all.  He is a perfect example of what can happen to you when you get stuck in a situation.  Preserved for eternity, never changing, no movement forward. 

Sometimes we have to just ‘let it go’ and move on.  As I mentioned here, sometimes you have to go back to move forwards, and the longer we take to do so, the tougher it is to do.

So if it feels like the view is always the same, and you don’t like it, perhaps today is the day to retreat and retrench….  Good luck!

“A good retreat is better than a bad stand”  Irish saying

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”  Franklin D Roosevelt

Resources:

  1. Bog Mummies
  2. Tollund man

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 07:48 and is filed under Personal Change, Values & Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Stuck in the Mud?”

  1. sam_d says:
    12 March , 2008 at 17:40

    Hey, Richard – good timing I had a great experience this week.

    On Monday, I was treated more rudely than I’ve ever been treated on the phone by someone whose role it is to be an ambassador for the entire region’s business community. It was so bad, that I actually uttered the phrase “I’m sorry but I’m ending the call here” and hung up.

    I raged about it and immediately plunged into writing the most devastating email ever. That turned into the most devastating ‘open letter’ I was going to put on our G2B@ podcast.

    Then I stopped – and realised that I needed to be open, honest and to write to this person directly.

    In my email, I began by clarifying what my business was in calling. I then risked giving direct feedback about how badly this person had treated me and made myself vulnerable by telling them how upset I felt. I then acknowledged it from their point of view , empathising with them about how difficult it might have been to tell my call apart from the usual spammers and blaggers.

    Lastly, I let go of my hurt and anger and invited this person to take part in our podcast nonetheless – keeping communication open – and magically, the resentment, the anger and the upset was gone.

    Taking the risk of giving powerful and clean feedback and experiencing (and acknowledging) my real feelings about the situation freed me to let go and move on. It’s a great feeling.

  2. SarahArrow says:
    12 March , 2008 at 17:41

    Interesting blog Richard, I see many examples of people who are ‘stuck’, its very common.

    Do you have a checklist of the sort of things a stuck person may do, so that people can decide whether they are stuck or not?

    Sarah

  3. richardderwentcooke says:
    12 March , 2008 at 17:42

    Sarah, I’m not that clever

    However, I would say that if you keep find ing yourself confronting the same sort of issues / challenges, the nthe chances are you are stuck. If you seem to be surrounded by idiots all the time, the nthe same probalby applies. Life can seem like a traffic jam and the view doesn’t change, this is another sign.

  4. richardderwentcooke says:
    12 March , 2008 at 17:42

    Sam

    This is a good receipe for moving on.

    I think that if you just bottle it you can’t let it go, but voicing and owning your feelings, and holding on to a sincere desire to communicate, rather than needing to be right is criucial.

    Thanks for sharing this.

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