How to Throw a Wrench in the Works
Depending on your age and where you’re from, you may not be familiar with the idiom of throwing a wrench into the works. It basically means to disrupt a system or a process.
This expression has an interesting origin; apparently it originated with textile workers in the 1800s. Because they were concerned that weaving machines might take over their jobs and make those same humans obsolete, the workers deliberately threw spanners (a specific type of wrench) into “the works” of the weaving machines in order to damage or destroy them.
This phrase might even have more meaning today in our world of automation, expediency and robotics.
Many technological advances have improved our world significantly; no one’s arguing that. But do we really want to lose our souls and our sense of well being by becoming more mechanical than human?
What could throwing a wrench in the works mean for you? And which works are we talking about?
I’ve started a new early morning routine of getting out for a half hour walk before I begin my day. The early morning breeze, the birds singing, the lushness of almost-summer is too delicious to pass up.
I feel so much lighter and more ready to meet whatever the day has in store for me when I can do this.
But I digress. Back to appropriating the term for our purposes.
We all have our routines and that includes me, too. I can easily get caught up in the daily activities of getting things done, crossing off items on my to-do list. You may be like me in sometimes creating a list (or adding to it) just to cross more items off and feel like I’ve really been busy accomplishing things!
When I’m in that mode of making sure that I get all the right stuff crossed off my list, I can lose my bearings and before I know it, I’m no longer present. I’ve become like a machine.
I get so focused on doing that I forget that my being (and how it’s doing with all my busyness) may need some attention.
I find that when I’m overly focused on being “productive” and “efficient” I miss a lot of the good stuff — including creative inspiration or a fresh perspective — that‘s waiting in my peripheral vision.
So for me, throwing a wrench in the works is my way of disrupting (or at least postponing or minimizing) the “system” of getting lost in the activities that I tell myself I need to get done.
Depending on where that need comes from, it may indeed be necessary to get stuff done.
Nothing wrong with that.
After all, most of us do have jobs of one sort or another. And even if we don’t, there are everyday tasks that would make life a lot easier if we did them before they piled up into an impossibly overdue or overwhelming (and consequently distasteful) project.
But if I get lost or caught up in the “system” of daily living as most of us know it, my world gets very small — as if I’m wearing blinders, like the kind horses wear so they can’t see what’s going on around them.
Our culture puts so much emphasis on doing and being productive — continuously cranking it out with precious little down time to refresh and renew ourselves. I’ve heard so many people talk about being exhausted, burned out, stressed out, zoned out, languishing…
What are our options?
When I find myself caught up in that system of “just get it done, done right and done now,” I’ve come to realize that I’m inadvertently cheating myself out taking the kind of care of myself that lets me breathe when my breathing is shallow.
Or lets my mind settle when it’s too full of thoughts.
Or lets my body release tension and contraction in my muscles, all the way down to my bones.
When I don’t take the time to notice my the combination of overthinking and felt experience in my body — and respond appropriately to them, my life gets set up just like one of those mechanized weaving machines that has the potential to make my human-ness, my spirit, obsolete.
And at the end of the day, is that really what I want for myself? No.
And I don’t think you do, either.
It’s not hard at all to recognize when your bodymind is hitting overload. But giving yourself permission to take stock and take care of yourself may be another matter. Keep going, just get this one more thing done, we tell ourselves.
When we’re conditioned to keep going without taking a breather, we become stale, repetitive, estranged from the flow of creative energy that moves through us, and most importantly, for us.
Let me be your personal permission granter to first of all notice when you’ve lost yourself and need to hit the reset button and secondly, take care of yourself right then and there.
It won’t necessarily mean you stop everything you’re doing, but then again it might.
Sometimes a simple stretch or a deep breath or getting up from the desk, even turning your gaze away from the computer to look out the window to become aware of what else is going on in the world (or what soft little voice is asking to be heard and attended to) can be the gateway to inner freedom and relaxation.
And Heaven knows, we could all use more of that.
Nina Lockwood is the co-creator of a wonderful life along with her husband, two cats and immersion in nature. Transformative coach and artist. Follow along for wonderings, aha moments and noticing. Visit me at ninalockwood.com, LinkedIn or Instagram (@nina.inspired.life).
