It is never too late to turn the tide, Lesley Garner wrote in The Telegraph yesterday:
"It doesn't matter how old you are: you are never too young or too old to feel stuck or, far better, to get un-stuck. I have seen teenagers sobbing that their life is a failure and I have seen 90-year-olds begin an exciting new life in a different country.
"Take a few deep breaths and remember a mantra, murmured by a slave in the ear of triumphant Roman generals: "This also will pass." The good things pass, and the bad things, too. The important thing is to keep dancing."
But how do you get unstuck? How do you 'keep dancing'?
I think we've all been in untenable situations - work fuckups, relationships, breakups and various kinds of loss - that threaten to topple us, but somehow we've clawed our way out and are either better, or non-fatally damaged, for the experience.
The reason I'm taking such an interest in this topic today is because I'm stuck.
At the risk of sounding vague and woolly (but I can't really go into specifics until... well, until this has passed), I feel like I'm at an impasse in life. I finally know what I want, but I'm already so far down another path, and weary from constant firefighting, that I feel unable to negotiate the continent-sized obstacles that clutter the road to where I want to be.
Look, I told you it was vague and woolly.
Garner tells the story of 75-year-old Mary, who was shattered after her husband left her, but found solace and new strength after going on an Arctic cruise. Now Mary is busy and happy and constantly challenging herself.
Garner illustrates how Mary made her changes in small steps, and recommends steps that everyone can take to get out of a rut - writing things down, performing some sort of ritual to emphasise your wishes and actions, expanding your horizons.
But what I'm interested in hearing is how you have coped. How have you got out of sticky situations? Do let me know in the comments.
