Last summer I visited Snibston Discovery Park in Leicestershire for a ‘play’ date with a dear friend. It has beautiful grounds for walking, a lake for sailing and adventure playgrounds.
This being a ‘play’ date we decided that we would try the barefoot walking which took us through mud and water pools and along different textured surfaces. Yep, we were the only adults doing this and I felt a little childish squealing at the cold water. But we soon got accustomed to the stares and had a giggle and a photo whilst on route.
We then tried out the adventure playground. I attempted to climb a wooden wall that had a rope to ease oneself up and over. My friend bolted over it but I couldn’t get my grip. I tried again; tried to excuse myself by saying my trainers didn’t have a grip on the bottom, until I realised my friends trainers didn’t either!! That didn’t work!! Have you noticed how we try to justify our behaviour when we don’t get the results we want and then seek evidence to support our point of view. But I was busted!!
My friend said ‘you’re not giving up are you?’ Well there’s a challenge. So I tried different approaches – I held the rope in a different way, tried not to hold the rope at all; all to no avail. I felt like giving up more than once, but I persevered – if only not to lose face!! However, despite my persistence not one of my approaches was working and I was starting to tire. I was getting angry with myself. ‘I can do this’, I said and what do you know, up and over the wall I went.
The wall is a metaphor for how we approach obstacles in life. We can keep approaching something in the same way and hope that eventually we get the result we want. This, according to Einstein is insanity.
| ‘’Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result’, Einstein. |
Or we can change the story in our head; our mindset. Change the story; change what can be accomplised.
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