My life is apparently in one of those “holding patterns” at the moment. It’s rare to hit a patch where every aspect of life is being delayed – work, home, health, hobbies, everything. But that’s what I’ve got. Yay, karma. Times like these frustrate the hell out of me. I want things done when I want them done. I’m happy to pay for them to be done when and how I want them. (It’s why I put up with a sucky workplace). But all these plans depend on other people getting around to it. The realisation that I can’t do this because …forms have gone missing; noone answers their phone; information isn’t forthcoming; systems are not configured so that they work correctly; the whole is not completed with the sum of the parts provided with the instructions; or my personal favourite – bickering childishness – he said, she said. Arghhhhhhhh!

Don’t get me wrong, I can procrastinate along with the best of them. I am slow and methodical in doing things. I don’t move quickly – needing to research each part of an entire project before beginning the first step. But when I’m ready to go, when the plans, small window of time, my money and a sliver of opportunity is there – aligned – and someone else yells “WHOA!” I could take their head off with a cricket bat. Truly.

There’s got to be a way to shift something. Get someone else moving. All I need is for one element to move in a forward direction and I’m sure, Pied Piper-like, the rest would follow to see where it’s going. It makes such a difference to my attitude and outlook to have something moving. I need a positive perspective to get me through my day, but it’s difficult to muster one when it seems that everything is stalled.

In the past I’ve driven myself into the ground trying to insert a plug of dynamite under immovable objects. It only ends up giving me migraine. So I am trialling taking a deep breath in and lowering my shoulders while I breathe out. It seems all I can do is keep chipping away at the things I can do myself. It doesn’t get anyone shifting any quicker, but it certainly lowers my blood pressure.