How to get out of a rut and get on down the road of life
Ken Batten
July 10, 2025
Do you ever feel like you are stuck in a rut? If you drive the back roads during mud season you know what it's like. When you come to a bad stretch of mud, you do your best to pick the right path and stay on the ridges. If you drop into a rut that you can't steer out of, all you can do is step on the gas and chew through to the end of the mud hole hoping that you don't get stuck.
The term, "stuck in a rut," came from the horse and buggy days. The narrow wagon wheels made deep ruts from traveling the same path repeatedly, so when they turned their horses or oxen, the wagon wheels kept trying to follow the deep grooves. The same thing happened in winter where the sleighs and sleds made frozen ruts. When my grandfather, Kenneth Batten, was in his early 20's in the early 1920's, he had a Model T Ford that he had had fitted with tracks and skis to run his Star Mail Route in the winter. He made two trips daily between Waits River village and Bradford VT. In those days, people who had cars would park them for the winter and travel by horse and sleigh. At times, my grandfather would meet teams of horses hauling freight on a big sled, or sledge. The teams could pull the sleds out of the ruts easier than an automobile with skis could steer out. With a bit of difficulty, the teamster had his horses get the sled off the track to let my grandfather pass. My grandfather told how sometimes they would say something like, "young man, you should keep that danged contraption off the road in the winter."
Surveys show that around 60 percent of Americans feel like they are stuck in a rut and need to make changes. I have been there. Get up, go to work, come home, eat supper and then watch television until it's time to go to bed. And then repeat, over and over. After a while, life becomes mundane and boring. Most of us have been there and will be there again. It's easy to get in a funk and feel unmotivated, repeating the same monotonous routines and habits day after day.
Just recognizing that you are in a rut and want to change can be one of the best things to happen in your life. Sometimes it takes little changes every day and a willingness to stick with it, to take one step at a time until you make the necessary changes to get on the road to mental and physical health. On the other hand, drastic changes can get you there faster.
After I left high school, I bounced around with different jobs, just trying to make enough money to get by and party. I had no direction with no goals and was doing nothing to build my future. I was starting to feel like I was stuck in a rut and wanted a change, so I joined the Army.
Joining the Army was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. Change was forced and sudden. No ruts allowed. Every morning at 4:30 the lights came on in our open bay barracks with the drill Sergeants screaming, "GET UP." Then out to the street in front of our old wooden WWII era barracks in our PT (physical training) uniforms. Our PT uniforms were combat boots, OD green fatigue pants and T-shirt. We then had a vigorous session of PT that included jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and other torturous muscle burning exercises followed by a long slow run called the airborne shuffle. Supposedly, the slow run helps build leg muscles, but I hated running that way. It was a real treat to do PT in my first duty station at the UNC Honor Guard in Seoul Korea where we ran fast, usually with a hangover, for two or more miles. I hated those runs too, but they kept us in shape.
Our brains and bodies are always looking for the path of least resistance and instant gratification. You can sit on the couch and eat donuts watching TV as your life slowly erodes into a soup of unhealthy, unmotivated decay or you can rise up and seize the day, resisting the path of lazy, least resistance. One of the greatest lessons I learned from being in the Army was, I am a lot more capable than I think I am.
I am actually preaching to myself here. I tried starting this article a while ago, but it seems like I've had a thousand distractions to keep me from finishing it. I think I would like to talk more on this subject, if I could just get out of this rut.
Ken Batten grew up on a small sheep farm in West Topsham VT. He was a logging contractor, soldier and rural mail carrier. He now lives in North Hyde Park VT with his wife Tina-Marie. You can contact Ken at kenbatvt@gmail.com or PO Box 5 N Hyde Park VT 05665
The term, "stuck in a rut," came from the horse and buggy days. The narrow wagon wheels made deep ruts from traveling the same path repeatedly, so when they turned their horses or oxen, the wagon wheels kept trying to follow the deep grooves. The same thing happened in winter where the sleighs and sleds made frozen ruts. When my grandfather, Kenneth Batten, was in his early 20's in the early 1920's, he had a Model T Ford that he had had fitted with tracks and skis to run his Star Mail Route in the winter. He made two trips daily between Waits River village and Bradford VT. In those days, people who had cars would park them for the winter and travel by horse and sleigh. At times, my grandfather would meet teams of horses hauling freight on a big sled, or sledge. The teams could pull the sleds out of the ruts easier than an automobile with skis could steer out. With a bit of difficulty, the teamster had his horses get the sled off the track to let my grandfather pass. My grandfather told how sometimes they would say something like, "young man, you should keep that danged contraption off the road in the winter."
Surveys show that around 60 percent of Americans feel like they are stuck in a rut and need to make changes. I have been there. Get up, go to work, come home, eat supper and then watch television until it's time to go to bed. And then repeat, over and over. After a while, life becomes mundane and boring. Most of us have been there and will be there again. It's easy to get in a funk and feel unmotivated, repeating the same monotonous routines and habits day after day.
Just recognizing that you are in a rut and want to change can be one of the best things to happen in your life. Sometimes it takes little changes every day and a willingness to stick with it, to take one step at a time until you make the necessary changes to get on the road to mental and physical health. On the other hand, drastic changes can get you there faster.
After I left high school, I bounced around with different jobs, just trying to make enough money to get by and party. I had no direction with no goals and was doing nothing to build my future. I was starting to feel like I was stuck in a rut and wanted a change, so I joined the Army.
Joining the Army was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. Change was forced and sudden. No ruts allowed. Every morning at 4:30 the lights came on in our open bay barracks with the drill Sergeants screaming, "GET UP." Then out to the street in front of our old wooden WWII era barracks in our PT (physical training) uniforms. Our PT uniforms were combat boots, OD green fatigue pants and T-shirt. We then had a vigorous session of PT that included jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and other torturous muscle burning exercises followed by a long slow run called the airborne shuffle. Supposedly, the slow run helps build leg muscles, but I hated running that way. It was a real treat to do PT in my first duty station at the UNC Honor Guard in Seoul Korea where we ran fast, usually with a hangover, for two or more miles. I hated those runs too, but they kept us in shape.
Our brains and bodies are always looking for the path of least resistance and instant gratification. You can sit on the couch and eat donuts watching TV as your life slowly erodes into a soup of unhealthy, unmotivated decay or you can rise up and seize the day, resisting the path of lazy, least resistance. One of the greatest lessons I learned from being in the Army was, I am a lot more capable than I think I am.
I am actually preaching to myself here. I tried starting this article a while ago, but it seems like I've had a thousand distractions to keep me from finishing it. I think I would like to talk more on this subject, if I could just get out of this rut.
Ken Batten grew up on a small sheep farm in West Topsham VT. He was a logging contractor, soldier and rural mail carrier. He now lives in North Hyde Park VT with his wife Tina-Marie. You can contact Ken at kenbatvt@gmail.com or PO Box 5 N Hyde Park VT 05665
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