Raising cattle on the Texas coastal plains presented two overriding hazards, snakes and getting stuck in the mud. I looked at the ground when I walked to watch for snakes. I also carried a long chain in the back of the truck in case I got stuck, which happened often. Getting stuck gave me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. It derailed whatever project I was working on. I was literally stuck. It would have been great to have a 4×4 pickup, but they weren’t available in the mid 1960s.
Today I use a 5×5 mentally when I get emotionally stuck. I saw a video on Instagram from Melissa Grainger. In it she says that in one hundred years we’ll all be dead and there will be almost no trace that we even existed. At some point nobody will be alive that ever knew me. I won’t even be a memory. I thought about all the people who ever existed that no one today even knows about. That hit me hard. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxeVgHhvRg6/?igsh=Nm05MTc2b2F3am01
She talks about taking a different outlook on life and not worrying about the ninety five per cent of things that consume our lives daily. It reminded me of the line in the song Quiet Your Mind by the Zac Brown Band, “Soak it all in. It’s a game you can’t win. Enjoy the Ride.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9asrIwcGEsI
She ends by stating “If it’s not going to matter in five years, don’t spend more than five minutes being upset by it.” That’s a good measuring stick for me. I call that the 5×5 philosophy. When something relatively minor comes along that can get me stuck emotionally I clap my hands together quickly, five fingers on each hand, and point my palms away from me to signal, I’m done with that.
It would have been so much easier to have a 4×4 in the 1960s. I’m glad I have my 5×5 outlook now to keep me from being stuck. Nothing more complicated than perception.
May you have enough today, one moment at a time.
THIS HELPED ME 
I do! I have you!
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