Lessons from Mud
Ever walk through mud?
The regular snow and rain that happens in late February as well as in March produces some sludgy, muddy trails in the woods. That consistency that comes from a mixture of sediment and water, gets stuck in the grooves of my hiking boots and makes it hard to trek on through without slipping a little.
Mud doesn’t feel the most pleasant to walk through, so you usually see people avoid stepping in it (me included!). As much as I like to hike and spend time in the woods, I don’t enjoy the sensation of feeling gunky, squelching, mushy earth beneath my feet.
WHEN AVOIDANCE DIRTIES YOUR PANTS
On a recent, short hike though there was a part in my excursion where walking in mud was unavoidable. I found myself rushing through it to lessen the unpleasantness, and in doing so I began to slip, slide, and almost fall. Not only were my boots becoming very muddy, but so were the bottom of my pants. I felt frustrated and somewhat annoyed about the mess I was going to bring into my car and home later on.
Then I began to think: How many times do we try to avoid the unpleasantness of something going on in our lives, and when it’s finally in our face and we can no longer avoid it, that we try to speed up the process so we can stop feeling whatever negative emotions that arise?
Avoidance will tend to perpetuate the problem you are trying to pretend is not there. There’s also the underlying stress that exists in the background of your day-to-day, because subconsciously you know it’s there and unresolved. Sometimes the problem becomes bigger the longer it goes unattended, so that when we finally have to address it, it’s this huge issue that we’re trying to rush through.
As a result we end up unintentionally creating more chaos and other problems, just like the mud that had gotten on my pant bottoms.
walk through mud
So what do we do?
Walk through that mud.
Feel the sticky, goopy, unpleasantness of it. Allow yourself to fully experience those negative emotions.
Just as we might describe what the mud feels like, what do those emotions feel like?
Does the emotional weight have a presence in your body? What’s it like? Describe it. Live it – because it won’t go anywhere until you attend to it.
Take your time walking through that mud, so you don’t kick some up onto your clothes.
Now I know this was just a metaphor. This mud. But the next time you find yourself avoiding some emotionally intense problem, I encourage you to take it on in the woods. Find yourself some muddy trails and work through those emotions as you physically work through that sludgy muck. Both your mind and body will thank you.
