I have a younger relative who can be a little bit idealistic. He seems irrepressibly cheerful, and comes out with a lot of overly-positive motivational lines which, if I’m very honest, can be somewhat wearing if you’re not in the mood. But he does have one clichéd saying which I have to admit I quite like.
He brought it out once during a visit a few years ago. It was a difficult time, I was tired, coping with an ongoing source of stress, and then another disaster unravelled and it all got a bit much. I was mortified not to be able to devote my full attention to him as a beloved family guest, but he fixed me with a look and told me not to worry, and that everything was going to be ok. “Sometimes the only way out is through,” he said.
It’s a ridiculously corny phrase, and it makes me laugh as it reminds me of the children’s book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen, which I used to read to my children. “Oh no! Thick oozy mud! We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, we’ve got to go through it! Squelch squelch squelch!” we used to sing.
For some reason this mantra stuck with me, and it has provided comfort in times of difficulty ever since. Sometimes things do get tough, and you feel like giving up on all your responsibilities. But in reality, you can’t. You can cut back on some – and I would very much advise it if that is appropriate for you – but some things just aren’t optional. You have to keep going. The only way out is through.
Whether it’s a difficult task at work, family concerns or just this seemingly interminable January (does it stretch on for this long every year?), I take comfort in this notion. It inspires me to pick myself up and keep trudging forward, however slowly, because that’s the only option. I imagine myself fighting my way through a particularly thick and prickly patch of gorse in the Wicklow mountains – sometimes you find yourself so far in that there’s impenetrable gorse on every side. The only way out is through – it’ll be unpleasant, but it will eventually be over, and as my lovely Mum used to say, you might as well get on with it.