Catch Help Where & When You Can

There are moments where I feel like I am trapped in the place that lies between less talk more action and too much action, too little thought.

You might call that a description of what happens when I am presented with a challenge that doesn’t provide obvious solutions.

My typical response is to jump off of the cliff and figure out a solution that either provides me with wings so that I might fly or a mattress that I can use to soften the impact of landing.

Or if you prefer a football analogy I will keep running the ball up the middle until the defense gets tired of being punched in the mouth and I find a seam to slip through.

The tricky thing about that is sometimes you run into situations where that just won’t work.

Sometimes it is the equivalent of slamming into a brick wall and it won’t matter how hard you hit it or how many times because the conventional solution isn’t applicable.

Since I am not the guy who gives up on things that matter to me I tend to hit the wall 30 or 40 times before I switch tactics.

Why?

Because you never know which blow is going to knock the wall over or at least create a crack I can use to blow that sucker up.

Catch Help Where & When You Can

I have tried to teach my kids how to walk the line between independence and asking for help but I am not sure how successful I have been.

That is because I have a teenager who prefers not to ask and I can’t fault him because I am not particularly good at it either.

Correction, in my professional life I feel pretty good about it, but the personal world is different.

The older I get the less interest I have in small talk and the more comfortable I become with silence.

As my kids age I have tried to be as self aware as I can about my life and how I live it because I don’t want them to fall into the same traps I have.

It would be better if they didn’t make the same mistakes but the reality is I can’t stop them from doing their own thing or taking their own approach.

So sometimes I watch them be the fool the same way I once was.

Doesn’t mean I don’t try to influence them to make smarter choices and better decisions but sometimes it doesn’t matter.

If I feel strongly about something I am willing to stand alone and apart. I don’t need approval or validation, so I really shouldn’t be surprised when they adopt a similar stance.

But one can hope they recognize these things and work upon catching help where and when they can…if needed.

The picture above is a stream under the Medenhall Glacier in Alaska. I got the photo from one of the free stock photo sites so I can’t tell you much about it.

There is something ethereal about it that captures my eye and holds my attention. Something about it that reminds me about how human measurements of time are insignificant and inconsequential.

I look at it and think about little I really need to be happy and fulfilled, at least from a material possessions standpoint.

It makes me wonder what sort of stories the rocks, ice and water could tell. Makes me think about how powerful water is.

I want my children to learn how to be like water and to remember that time is an illusion we create and adjust as needed and whenever necessary.

Actually that applies to me just as well as it applies to them. Better to dance in the rain than scream at the storm.