Bottom Dead Center

At the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, there is an exhibit of a double paddlewheel boat that cruised on Lake Champlain for years before it was brought to the museum to delight visitors. I took my children for a day of art and culture a few weeks ago, and we were on the ship learning about how the paddlewheels made the boat move. There was a small interactive display where you spun a "paddlewheel" and watched how the force of the piston made it rotate. But, there was a catch. It was possible for the piston that created the energy to get stuck in a position where no internal force of the engine could get it to move. Almost like if an elbow got hyperextended and "caught" The crew would use a large wooden pole to push the piston out of this "locked" position and the wheel started moving again.

This term is called Bottom Dead Center.

I grabbed my cell phone and typed a note to myself. Perfect wellness idea, this bottom dead center.

We have all been there just as that boat has been hundreds of times. Energy available, nothing broken, but not able to move. A place where you are "stuck" without any idea as to why.
This is Bottom Dead Center.

How do we get out of this predicament? Just as the ship did, we need a crew. We need a plan.
We need a simple tool. We need to realize we are stuck, and use our crew and tools to help us.
Call a friend for a walk. Make the doctors appointment you have been putting off. Put your running shoes in your car.

Just as the beautiful boat had problems with Bottom Dead Center, so will we. But it will only last a few minutes until we get this boat headed in the right direction.