Wiggle through life

"Life is not a struggle, it's a wiggle.” — Peter McWilliams

I find myself wiggling a lot at Jenny’s volleyball games. I can’t help it. As much as I try to sit still, my body starts to sway and swoop the moment the ball veers this way or that, as if my body language could help the young players get to the ball quicker.

It doesn’t help, but that doesn’t stop me from still trying to wiggle out a win.

When volleyball was a new sport to these girls there was so much to learn, yet one lesson still eluded them; they had trouble learning to loosen up and let their instincts take over.

They haven’t learned to wiggle.

When the girls tensed up during the game, they didn’t play as well; they didn’t react to the unexpected as quickly as they needed to.

They began to struggle to win when all they needed to do was wiggle.

Once they learn to trust their instincts instead of their brains, they’ll find themselves already moving toward the ball the moment it’s hi — moving toward the solution — moving toward the win.

You can think of difficulties in life as struggles, but I like to think of them as wiggles instead. It sounds happier.

It sounds more achievable.

Like a fish caught on a hook, we only dig ourselves in deeper when we struggle against a problem. It is the smart fish who waits for the right moment when the line goes slack to wiggle his way off the hook.

Solutions will present themselves if we look for them — if we’re flexible enough to bend with the problem instead of struggle against the problem — if we learn to wiggle through life.