Tryck Push. Drag Pull.
Life's a swinging door.
In the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I was setting out on a 23-day trip to the Soviet Union with a group of fellow high-schoolers when we made a pitstop at the airport in Stockholm. As I stepped off the plane and into the waiting area to begin our 8-hour layover that preceded our final flight to Moscow, the very first words I read were on the door from the gateway: "TRYCK PUSH" on one side, "DRAG PULL" on the other.
Obviously, "tryck" meant "push," and "drag" meant "pull." Made sense.
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Armed with that tiny, almost imperceptible boost of confidence that comes from making a logical deduction, I proceeded to have the time of my life for the next three weeks with people I'd never met, places I'd never been before, modes of transportation I'd never experienced, food I'd never eaten and languages I'd never spoken.
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Yet those first two words I encountered in a foreign country always stuck with me. Even though they were pretty easy to interpret -- given that they had their English equivalents printed right beside them -- they'd made me stop and think for a second in a way I'd never had to before. I somehow realized at that very moment that the things that were everyday "givens" were now going to be put to the test, and how I treated each one of those instances was going to determine whether I looked at it as an obstacle or an opportunity.
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Such is life.
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Whether we consciously realize it or not, we make decisions and figure out problems every split second of every day. We use the information around us to come to conclusions and get on with things. Sometimes, we come up with answers seemingly on our own. Sometimes we need a little assistance. The decisions we make and the conclusions we draw expand and pile on top of one other, connecting, growing, enhancing and advancing our place in the world and our standing with the people around us.
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Sometimes, we have to "tryck" ourselves in order to "push" ourselves a little farther. And sometimes we have to "drag" ourselves kicking and screaming as we "pull" ourselves back from the cliff of danger.
The tryck and drag of life is a constant dance with a door that swings both ways. You know, the kind you push or pull from either side. One side sports a doorstop at the end of that full swing that hits hard with shame, insecurity, paralyzing fear, avoidance, and the dread of being unwanted and unloved; on the opposite side, there's a stop that comes loaded with the pure joy, acceptance, validation, complete and unconditional love, a high like no other, peace and tranquility.
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It's the walking back and forth with the door flipping from one side to the other... or the anticipation of pushing the door open and not knowing how very close that stop might be on the other side or, for that matter, what, if anything, might be on the other side... or even standing in the opening with the door itself open wide, hard against the stop, our body pressed against it and us sucking our gut in as we allow someone else to roll some giant object through the doorway... this is the tryck and the drag, the push and the pull, the stuff of our lives. Our decisions. Our hopes. Our dreams. Our fears. Our passions. Our retreating back. Our need for love, help, guidance, and our assurance that we're on the right path of learning, enrichment and happiness somewhere safe inside the limits of those two door stops.
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I hope you enjoy reading some of my musings here about the tryck-push / drag-pull of my own life.
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