Between a rock and a hard place

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It seems to be part of life that at times we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Knowing we really should do (at least) two things which ar incompatible with each other. Both things having a time constraint, needing to be done ‘now’, having only one body to do them… And there you are.

In and of itself, the fact that we find ourselves in a situation like that is not the end of the world in any stretch of the imagination. The important things is, though, that we don’t allow ourselves to get stuck in that situation. That we take the time to step back from it, re-examine it, and perhaps even come up with more things that need to be done which, for the moment at least, we had overlooked.
This may sound strange as a net step, but it does often help us to put things in perspective. To see that our lives, even though hectic, are not just these two things that need to be done now ~ our lives are so much more!
It is that realization that wil permit us to start prioritizing whatever is happening on our lives; whatever things need to be done ‘now’. Often it will show us that the very first thing to do is to take a deep breath, and to take some fifteen minutes or so of ‘me-time’. Whether we use that to go for a short walk, or just to make ourselves a cup of coffee doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it gives us the opportunity to step away from a stressful situation for a moment…

After that little bit of ‘me-time’ making a list of whatever needs our attention and putting things in order of importance may well guide us into a more productive direction.

And the things that on more than one occasion has totally amazed me is that those two things that made me feel caught between a rock and a hard place, weren’t numbers one and two on that list. Yes, they made it onto the list, but more like in 5th and 7th place or so… Almost invariable I have found that there is a different path with different priorities that turns out to be way more productive for me at that particular point in time.

It shows that, while it is fairly normal to encounter a situation where we feel caught between a rock and a hard place, there is always an innovative, unexpected path leading to greater productivity.
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