If the daily grind is getting to you, you’re stuck in a rut with every day feeling the same, if life feels like hard work and joyless and you want to break free of the daily struggle this metaphorical and poetic exploration of “pushing the same boulder up the same hill” may provide some insight and relief to help with moving you from not knowing to knowing what to do.

Pushing the same boulder up the same hill

Not this again

Having taken the effort
Having taken the time
I realise it's the same boulder being pushed up the same hill

As if caught in a nightmare
Round and round
On autopilot

Not thinking nor realising there's an alternative to
Getting to the top
And then suddenly, as if waking from a dream, back at the bottom of the hill again

Pushing the same boulder up the same hill
Pushing up up up to the top
Then back at the bottom

And repeat
Push to the top
Back to the bottom

Surely there must be something different to do
Surely change must be possible

If I choose a different boulder what boulder would it be?
Would it even be a boulder?
Why am I even trying to get the boulder up the hill?

And yet if it has to be a boulder
Perhaps a nicer coloured boulder would help
Or smaller or lighter boulder

What about a boulder that moves up the hill by its own volition
A boulder that requires no pushing nor tugging
A boulder that requires no effort to get it to the top

Or maybe, just maybe, the boulder is really a balloon
Or perhaps a tennis, golf or football
Or what about an orange, apple or … melon?

And what about leaving the boulder at the bottom or even top of the hill?

Or perhaps it’s about changing the hill
Trying a different hill
Certainly a greener hill

A hill with gentler slopes
With wild flowers moving in the breeze
With a beautiful view and time to admire it

Or maybe the hill is really a path
A means of getting from A to B
Before moving to C and then D

And yet I can’t help but to ask
What happens if I stay where I am
Allowing others to come to me

Like a lighthouse
Shining in the dark
Sharing insight for all who come near

Or like a river
Taking others within its flow
Towards deep deep oceans

Oh I think I’ve got it
Or like a hill
Allowing others to enjoy my very being

Although perhaps best to make sure the boulders are hidden
Before anyone tries to push those very boulders up the hill

You'll find a playlist of other poems I've written to help you see situations in your life differently on my YouTube channel