Mental Health and Well-Being Blog

April 9, 2023

In my neighbors’ backyard, they had approximately half an acre of Blue Spruce Pine trees. They planted them after they had them in pots for about two years. They would purchase the seedlings for twenty-five cents. After five or six years, the trees sold anywhere between fifty to one hundred dollars! Quite a return on investment, but we will get to that later. The trees would be dug up, their root ball wrapped in burlap and transported to their final growing place. A hole was left where the tree once was, I’m not sure if or what they did to fill the hole. One of these holes filled with water and then the dirt made the most attractive mud. The really smooth kind that moves like jello or a jiggly belly.

I could not resist the temptation to get in it. It was fun for a few minutes until I became stuck. It was as if it was quicksand and I was going to sink to my death. At that time of great alarm and panic, I thought that no one cared about me cause I was stuck and no one was around to help. It was terrifying! I saw some awesome mud and now I’m trapped in it. The neighbor’s daughter happened to come into the backyard and we had quite a struggle getting me out of the mud. She used a shovel to try to make air pockets and leverage. I made it out. I’m not sure if I’ve ever jumped into a mud puddle since.

What are your mud puddles? How many have you jumped into? Did you make it out alone or need help? Sometimes life’s mud puddles don’t give us an immediate panic and we enjoy ourselves for some time. Sometimes we discard that panic into the back of our heads because it was such a beautiful presentation, seemed like a great opportunity, or was what you felt you were supposed to do. We can always make the best of any situation. However, depending on how entrenched in the mud we are, we may still be stuck in the mud and need help getting out.