Thankful for Wellies and puddles (14&15/1000) oh and Oskar (16/1000)

This is a few days old now, I seem to get the ideas down and then not post, must try harder methinks or better late than never.

Anyway despite the odd sun breakthrough the recent weather has really begun to get me down, especially when I am tasked with the pre work dog walk, but Oskar, our rescue dog, still needs walking and our route is through some lovely woods and parks but when it is wet it is oh so muddy. Along the way we hit these boggy pits, puddles and ooze of mud and Oskar nimble skips around and occasionally through. I seem to spend my time trying to avoid the squidge and tiptoeing round , using bushes and trees to balance but this time as I walked I remembered the story 'We're Going On a Bear Hunt' I loved this book during my time in a nursery school. I loved reading it with the children, acting it out making noises and see the delight in their faces. If you don't know the story it's basically about some children on an adventure who come across obstacles in their way, long, wavy grass, a deep, cold river, and thick, oozy mud amongst them.

As they reach each obstacle they chant
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh no! We've got to go through it!

Sometimes in life we need to go through the stuff, wade on in, take the path least trodden. When faced with hard or challenging situations it can be easy to try and find a way around it, take a much longer route to avoid it. Sometimes even taking the longer route is avoided, and we chose to throw in the towel, and not get to the end at all. At other times when faced with a multi faceted task we pick and chose the bits we want to deal with, and in it all pretend to ourselves that by getting to the end we have achieved, despite having missed experiences and opportunities that although they will challenge us, will ultimately grow us.

One thing in life is guaranteed, we will reach the end of it, but life is not about getting to the end it's about what we go through along the way. We can make choices to tiptoe around stuff, to only step in the footsteps of others, for fear of testing new ground and in doing so we end up with lives that have length, but no depth, no width. Choosing to go through the challenge adds breadth to our experience, adds colour to our world, grows our character, brings both laughter and tears, brings more than we can imagine. It's not easy, sometimes the quick fix is what we will choose, but why not start today with a couple of muddy puddles and just see where they might take you.