When I was a kid, my sister and I, along with my cousins spent a lot of time at our family's land that had a creek running through it.
Buck Creek.
And the bridge over the creek was the site for one of our favorite games to play - stick races!!
Each of us would scrounge through the brush for just the right stick -
Not too light or too heavy
Not a lot of bark or branches that could slow it down, etc.
We'd even look for pretty ones.
When we each had our stick, we would all stand on one side of the bridge and on the count of three, let our sticks go and watch as they plunged down into the flowing waters of Buck Creek. Then we would race to the other side of the bridge and wait anxiously to see who's stick would emerge first.
You would have thought we had just won the National Championship (Go Dawgs!:)) when we were the first to see our stick peek out under the bridge.
If we didn't see all of the sticks come out the other side, we would try to lie down on the bridge and peer underneath to see if we could see what happened. How did it get stuck?
The naivete or innocence of kids is that we all thought we could just blindly throw a stick off a bridge and magically we would win some arbitrary race ... just because! Isn't that the way it should work?
Yes - we thought about the stick
Yes - we had a time and all released them at the same time
Yes - it was the same creek
BUT - wow - to think about all of the things that there was NO WAY for us to know about?!
...the rocks or dams or twigs that were underneath the bridge that could get in the stick’s way.
...things that we had no control over.
And so brings the metaphor to life... about LIFE!
We can plan and plan and plan but still, sometimes we are at the mercy of the flow of the river. And have you ever really been in a river and tried to fight against the current - it. is. rough.
I've spent a good many years trying to have my own stick race by myself AND also control the outcome.
And we can all collectively agree - that that most likely has not worked.
And you know what else - it's exhausting!! Like really exhausting.
To start 2022 off, I rented a cabin in Bryson City, NC to do some reflection and planning. And wouldn't you know, it had a creek running through it right off the cabin!!
And this part of the creek was in a bend with a lot of rocks and fallen branches and leaves and also had a couple of twists and turns.
But the water kept flowing! So beautiful!
When I got to the cabin and got unpacked, I grabbed my notebook and pen and walked down the picnic table by the creek ready to create an action plan for my planning weekend. (Type A anyone???!)
I wrote a little bit, but as usually happens, I was mesmerized by the creek, and I just sat and watched the water and just listened to the rushing water.
I watched the water flow over and around the rocks and saw how the fallen tree branches and leaves had created small dams which changed the water's flow.
But... it still kept flowing and flowing and made the loveliest sound ever.
I absolutely love the sound of rushing water! (that's what my sleep app plays every night!)
As I sat there listening to and being hypnotized by the water, I thought about the stick race, and I was tempted to walk over to the bridge on this creek and drop a stick into the water and see what would happen.
It could twist and turn the way the current was flowing, or it might get stuck being a rock or dammed up like the leaves and branches.
Or it could just ride the current all the way down and have a fairly easy flow.
In one sense, you could look at the rock and dams as bad things - keeping us stuck in certain places, but those things also create new patterns for the water, so is it really bad?
And without the dams and rocks, then the gurgling sounds that were created may not occur and that would make me very sad!
My word of the year for 2021 was Journey because I knew what part of my year would entail with a large move and massive transition, so I decided to honor that. And What a journey it has been!
But as I sat there by the creek thinking about our childhood stick races, I realized how much FUN and joy it brought us because of NOT KNOWING what was going to happen! And sitting there enjoying the sound of the water and the joy the memory brought me along with my intention of planning my planning weekend, I was struck by the juxtaposition and irony of the two.
So I'm going to work to lean into the FLOW of things... and along the way, even though it may be scary, realize the Joy and sense of adventure the flow can bring!
I'll still continue to plan things because that's how I work (duh), but I'm also going to hold those plans loosely and let the water and life flow a little bit more freely and see what happens!
Here's hoping that 2022 will bring a better FLOW into your life as well.
p.s. I woke up the next morning and realized it had rained overnight and the water in the creek had risen! most of the rocks and dams were covered by the water and the creek was rushing way more than the day before.
Interesting, huh? Sometimes if we just wait, things definitely change.
