Ostrich head in the sand- Avoidance tactics.

At The Skansen museum Stockholm, Sweden

 With Easter coming just around the corner I have been thinking about the ostrich egg that I bought from a local farmers shop a few months ago for Christmas breakfast. We blew the contents out, scrambled them up and had a feast to feed 7 adults very easily (probably about 10 portions all in all). I kept the egg safe and have been waiting for an opportunity to do an egg project (I'll show you that a little later). However, it got me thinking about the stereotypical image we have of the ostrich with its head in the sand trying to hide away from its predators. I often feel like acting like that ostrich!




 

















One prime example yesterday.... I received an email from the children's' school saying that I had failed to pay a bill for drum tuition and that they were "very disappointed" in me because they had called me twice on the matter. If I didn't pay the bill immediately they would have to cancel the drum lessons.
My response was less that measured. I retorted back with a curt response stating that since Christmas my life had been very busy. I had dealt with numerous bouts of prolonged illness with varying individuals in the family and had one child off school a whole month (see Vitamin D soaking post).
 I proceeded to tell them the ins and outs of who, when, why...details I'm sure they were not interested in and told them I was sorry that they obviously thought I was trying to avoid paying the bill. Regardless of what they thought however, I was not.... I just had other more important things to be dealing with. I ended the mail with the assurance that "of course I would pay the bill WHEN I have the time". With Regards!
When I go through months of putting my head down and just ploughing on through what  to me are  tough times,  I am tempted to just put it down a little further and just hide it and forget everything else that needs doing. No matter how hard you try.... invariably there is sometimes that gets left undone. Usually that is the thing that comes right back at you!
 I seems like sometimes you reach a point where enough is enough and the tolerance level has been reached. It's an inbuilt mechanism of our autonomic nervous system. We can either be in "fight of flight" mode where we keep moving  and run to or away from something) getting things done or we freeze and bury our heads and do nothing. For me, how I respond depends on the cumulative amount of stress I feel like I am under.  So, although tempted to put my head voluntarily in the sand and wait a few more days to write out a cheque.... I won't ...because I hope that I'm bigger that.  
I have to remind myself that if they had to deal with what I have had to deal with, they would have not only forgotten to pay the bill but have buried themselves a long time ago.
That said, I'm sure whatever trails they have....would be equally hard for me. Each persons trial or challenge is fit individually to their back. I'm  mindful that we are all at different points and have to cope with different loads along our life journey, so I'm letting it go.......
Burying my head in this blog has provided me with the "get up and go"  I needed to get something done ....so I'm off to pay the bill!


Jx