I was visiting my cousin this week and there is alternate side of the street parking in her neighbourhood which I have seen before.
But what I haven’t seen
is people double parking in a second row so that the alternate side is free and clear of cars but there are two rows of cars on the allowed-to-park side.
If you can picture
what I’m saying, when we got in her car to leave, there was the sidewalk on our left, then her car in a row of parked cars, and then on the right, a second row of parked cars as far as the eye could see.
The second row of parked cars generously
left a space between themselves so that she could possible eke her Toyota out between them, and we tried, but it was way too small of a space. Apparently, this is part of the neighbourhood culture, but when you double park and hem someone in (as this ENTIRE row of cars did), you are supposed to leave your phone number on the dash so that we can call you to come move your vehicle and presumably you would.
However in this case
no one left their phone numbers.
So here we are.
Our car on an angle as if trying to get through the parked cars but cutting it too close, my cousin in the car trying not to cry and me on the street flailing my arms uselessly trying to figure out how to resolve this problem that I quite possibly started by saying “This might work.”
When suddenly two guys walk by and I ask them if they think it would be possible to maneuver the car out - in other words, if a better driver could do a better job.
The guys generously
stopped to consider my question. They walked around the cars, they thought about the angles, they conferred with one another.
And then, because we were all chatting loudly
we caused enough of a commotion that the door to the Church across the street opened, and someone called “ Hey - I’ll get the guys to move their cars.”
Two gentlemen emerged from the Church, got into their respective cars, and moved them out of the way so that my cousin could pull her car out. If I wouldn’t have stopped the guys and asked their opinion, I would still be flailing my arms on the street.
The most direct route
would have been to knock on the Church doors in the first place and ask if they knew whose cars were double parked. But I didn’t think of that. Someone else suggested leaning on the horn - which also might have been smarter. The key is that I did something - even if it wasn’t the best thing - and that caused change.
If you are stuck
in your writing, in your project, in your head I suggest you do something - anything. Any movement will move or shift your project out of the parking spot it is currently stuck in. If you don’t have ideas, recopy something you’ve already written. Or read it out loud. Or remove all the vowels (ok, not all ideas are good ideas).
Persistence
is normally about moving forward and forging ahead, but sometimes we aren’t sure which way is forward. In that situation, I suggest you just move in any direction, cause a little commotion and hope you get unstuck.
And if you are treating the boulevard like a parking lot, please for the love of all things holy - please leave your number on the dash.
Wow! That is wild! Excellent advice as always Amy! 😍✏️💪