In The Mud or In The Box?

It’s April in Michigan.  What does that mean?  It means that we experience anything from snow, rain, and temperatures that can be in the sunny sixties one moment and drop to the terrible twenties in a moment. 

Mother nature is very active in April.  She swings like a pendulum from one season to the other without notice.

Our horses have two opportunities right now.  They can be in the mud or in the box (aka stall). 

Personally, I hate to stall my horses.  I prefer to let them live as naturally as possible, but sometimes they just need to be inside.  I decided they needed a break from the mud, and I wanted to clean them up and make sure they were healthy and happy. 

The process of cleaning them up and getting their stalls ready for them got me thinking.  When are we in the stall and when are we in the mud?

In this analogy let’s say that “the mud” is getting down and dirty as you experience all your life has to offer and being “in the stall” is playing it safe.

Growth is Muddy. 

We need to be able to walk through a lot of “mud” to get where we are meant to go in this lifetime.  Getting muddy means experiencing all life has to offer.  That means all the good stuff, but all the bad stuff too.

What happens when your life gets muddy?

When life gets muddy, we tend to want to stay in our own safely constructed stall.  This is a stall of our own making, and it restricts our growth, but it is tempting to stay there.  Do you know why?  Because it is comfy, at least in the moment, and we are happy entertaining habits that do nothing for us in the long run but waist our time and potential.

What is in your stall?

In my stall there might be a comfortable couch, Netflix, and lots of chocolate.  These things keep my mind quiet, but my growth is stunted.     

In my stall there is not much happening.  I am safely doing mind numbing activities that I have found keep me from playing in the cool, fun, and sticky mud of life. 

If it seems strange that I would stay in my stall of self-sabotage it likely makes a lot of sense when you consider that the mud is not always cool and fun.  Sometimes it sucks you down to very painful depths.  Sometimes it is just irritating and dirty.  It is also tiring to walk through, isn’t it?  At least when you wade through the mud you are getting somewhere.

Unfortunately, you are not meant to get “out” of the mud.  Alas, we need to work our way into the mud. 

In your stall you might have the same things I do but you may also have alcohol, drugs, sex, social media scrolling, smoking… whatever you do that keep you from your full potential is what is in your personal stall.

Oh, the irony!  Stall.  Getting out of the mud means willfully stalling your own growth and ability to enjoy life.

I am embracing the mud.  Will you join me?

Today I took my horses out to the muddy pasture.  It is not pretty out there.  There is nothing to eat right now in the pastures and the mud sucks the boots from my feet on the daily.  You know what else is out there?  The herd.  They can touch one another, communicate, feel the wind on their butts and the rain on their faces.

Maybe, like us, they learn resilience this way?  They get stronger wading though their muddy environment.  If things were always beautiful and sunny, would they enjoy each moment to the fullest like they do? 

I do not believe they would.  They, like us, would stay in their nicely bedded stall with plenty of hay, feed and water while their time on this Earth passed in a series of wake, sleep, and eat cycles.

What are your cycles and what are you going to do about them?

The irony is not lost upon me that throughout this blog post I talk about eating a lot.   My stall is filled with all kinds of goodies but none of them wipe away my tears or hold my hand or offer me a hug.  My stall has limited my movement forward as I am sure yours has limited you too.

So, what are you going to do about it?

I Boss Mare Dare you to join us on the Podcast, beginning May 1^st, where you can learn tons of different tools to get you moving forward into the muddy parts of you and how “sticking it out” will help you understand yourself a whole lot better!

I’ll see you there.