Stuck. Being stuck can mean a lot of different things to different people. You can get stuck in an elevator. Or maybe you stuck a post-it note on the refrigerator tonight. Recent trip to the doctor, and get stuck in the arm with a needle? Some people get stuck in jobs, or in relationships. Or perhaps you feel strongly about your politicking, and you are stuck in your opinions.
“Stuck” can cover a plethora of things.
I was driving home from picking up dinner tonight. Pizza from the Rizza. I prepared some homemade coleslaw to accompany it. This is my favorite Go-To-Meal right now. Pepperoni Thin Crust Pizza (or Cheese) and Coleslaw. Holy Cow. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Okay… I am way off topic… and I haven’t even started the dang topic yet. THAT is how excited I get about slaw and pizza. Okay.
Back to my drive home from getting the pie. I get stuck in traffic with the train heading through Camden. Great. BUT… what comes on the radio? One of my favorite tunes of all time. U2’s “Stuck in the Moment.”
“You’ve got to get yourself together. You got stuck in a moment…. and you can’t get out of it.”
Gawd, I love this song. I think because it really strikes a chord with me. No pun intended. There have been times in my life when I got “stuck in a moment” and it lasted a long, long time. Like for decades. Yes tens of tens of years…. before I got out of it.
Other times… it hasn’t been quite a long. But it sure does happen.
I think at times… it happens to all of us.
We don’t mean for it to occur. You know the old saying… “Oh sure. It is all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.” But we start out doing something that we think is all good. Yet… it may turn out to be an addiction, or a compulsion, or just a really bad idea.
For example, when I was about 13 years old, I thought it would be pretty cool to try cigarettes. Well, before I knew it… I was stuck in that moment. I couldn’t get out. Several decades later… at dozens and dozens and dozens of cigarettes each day…. I had to get out. GET Unstuck. And that has been about 13 years now.. that I got myself unstuck.
The Lego Movie hits the topic of “being stuck” right on the head. During the entire movie… the little Lego People are trying to save the world by putting the big red thing… back on the Kagle. As it turns out… the big red thing is the lid for a tube of Krazy Glue. And the tube is crunched up… that the only letters you can read is K-a-g-l-e.
I am not sure what is the best way… to get unstuck if you are stuck. Perhaps just acknowledging it is the first step. And maybe it isn’t as daunting as it seems. It may just be a time of stillness. Of non-progression.
Like all times of stillness, it is a really good opportunity for transformation to occur. Being stuck certainly can be an invitation to grow.
Somehow….. We know that what worked before no longer works. We know it. And so…. it’s up to us to see where we can open up and let go.
If we believe in ourselves… our potential is expounded.
We all have the power to put the big red thing… back on the Kagle.
Or… in other words… to grow.
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Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart…. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. – Carl Jung
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. – Harriet Tubman