Stuck in the Mud

Have you ever had one of those feelings where you are stuck in the mud? The faster you go and the more you try to get out of it the worse it gets?

Last night my parents, my husband and 3 children ventured back from our 3 day expedition in North Bali. We had a fantastic time. We saw breathtaking views of Bali from the central volcanic mountains, we felt the fresher, cooler air in the mountains and we drove further north to the coast of Lovina, where we went on a small fishing boat at dawn to see a group of 20 dolphins playfully skimming the waves as they dived head first into the ocean for their early morning feed. On our way back home to the West of Bali, we decided to have dinner at our local eating place at Echo Beach. A perfect end to a great weekend.  Or this is what we thought it would be.........

After dinner, we jumped in our car ready to go home. Rather than reverse out of the space, my husband decided to drive in a loop across the car park (Bali's version of a public car park by the sea is a rough piece of land covered in black volcanic sand with rocks, stones and pot holes). It had rained and was dark at this stage. There was no overhead lighting to help us see where we were going. Suddenly, we hit a big puddle of squelchy mud, much more swampy than what we had anticipated and the car refused to move. At first my husband tried to gently manoeuvre us out of the deep rut, but the wheels just kept on turning round and round. My husband pressed his foot slightly heavier on the accelerator and asked us all to rock back and fore to nudge the car forward. Goodness knows what any passer-by would have thought of us rocking back and fore like a bunch of demented lunatics. We grunted and sighed hoping that our rocking would push the car forward but all it seemed to do was rock us further into the mud!

An Indonesian security guard noticed our distress and offered to help. He took off his shoes, rolled up his trousers, beckoned each of us to get out of the car and with my Dad, tried pushing the car out of the hole, but to no avail. Frustrated, the security guard gesticulated with his hands that he should jump into the driving seat. My husband let him have a go. The security guard revved the car so hard, the engine started screaming, puffs of white smoke blasted from the exhaust into the black sky and a smell of a burning clutch hit the air. By now we were all covered in a thick, black, volcanic sand paste. I know that there are many beautiful spas in Bali where people will pay exorbitant prices for this kind of treatment, but the novelty of being in this stuck state was starting to wear thin by now.

"Stop! You'll burn out the clutch.You have to do this gently" My Dad shouted to the security guard.
The security guard clearly didn't understand English and continued to rev the car. The back wheels slipped and skidded burying the tyres deeper and deeper into the mud. Furious, my Dad opened the driver's door and gesticulated to the security guard to get out.

By this stage, we were gathering quite a crowd of on-lookers and a jeep with flashing lights appeared. It was the beach patrol guards. I thought they had arrived to help, but they got out of their jeep and went for a coffee! A Scottish man who was moving his own car volunteered to help us. He took off his shoes and helped push the car with my husband and the security guard. The harder they pushed and rocked the car, the more it seemed to stick in the mud. We could only see the top half of the back wheels. The bottom half had been engulfed by the black, volcanic sand. We were well and truly stuck.

To get out of this stuck state required a different strategy. It required doing something different and 'out of the box' thinking.
"I'm going to phone the car hire company and ask them to bring a rope to pull out the car." I suggested.
An hour later the car hire company arrived and gently pulled out our stuck car with a rope using their car. It took seconds and we were no longer stuck in the mud.

Have you ever repeatedly done more of the same thing, faster and harder to find you're getting more stuck? Rather than wedge yourself further into the mud, take the lead and think of ways in which you can find a solution. I'm going to refer to my 'stuck in the mud' story whenever I'm feeling this way!