How to get out of a small space
Once when I was in college, my housemates and I were on our way out, but when we got to the driveway someone had parked behind my friend’s car, blocking her in. There was space to the right of the cars, but she was solidly stuck behind this person’s car and in front of another one, with no room at all to pull out either forward or backwards. Here, I made you a graphic:
Do you see what I mean? My friend’s car is the purple one. Anyway, so we’re ringing our neighbor’s doorbell’s, trying to figure out whose car it is to ask them to move it, and feeling that general sense of annoyance you feel when other people—or their cars—are in your way. But after a while, my friend got in her car, and just started driving forward a couple of inches, then back a couple of inches, turning the steering wheel as far as she could each time. Don’t worry, I have more graphics:
Forward a couple of inches…
Back a couple of inches…
Forward a couple of inches…etc. The graphics don’t really capture how little room there was between the two cars. Literally like four inches on each side, maybe. So my friend was going back and forth in tiny increments, while meanwhile the rest of us kept ringing doorbells. After maybe seven or eight of these little back-and-forths, though, we realized she was actually making progress. Do we need another graphic? Okay, sure, might as well get my money’s worth of my Canva subscription:
So we stopped ringing doorbells and came and watched her. Back and forth, back and forth. I think I counted twelve times (again, the graphics don’t fully capture the limited space she was working with). Till finally—the car was free!
And we went on our way. Probably to go get ice cream, I don’t remember.
All of which to say, I was thinking of this yesterday as I inched out of another tricky parking situation, and how much it felt like a metaphor for my life at the moment. I was stuck, with no easy or clear way out. But I was making my little moves. A little bit forward, a little bit back. Inch by inch, trying to be patient, trying to persevere, trusting in geometry, in myself, and in the process to eventually get me to a place where I was free to pull out of the driveway and carry on with my life.
And I just wanted to share that.
Hope you’re not feeling stuck, but if you are, maybe try moving just a little bit. Forward, backward, sideways. You don’t need to solve the whole problem in one swoop, fell or otherwise. But make a little move. And tomorrow make another one. And maybe you’ll eventually get back to the open road. I’ll meet you there!
With love and hope,
Jessica