I went to flush the toilet but the water rose up and nearly spilled over the top of the basin. Not great, but I didn’t panic.

I quickly took a look in the drains outside the house, by lifting up an access chamber, only to discover that the drains appeared to be very clogged.

No drama – I have draining rods and am not afraid to use them. I also, just by the way, actually do know how to use them appropriately.

I set to trying gently to clear the blockage. And, after 15 to 20 minutes of increasing effort, it became very apparent that the blockage wasn’t what I thought it should be.

A little further examination revealed that the septic tank, which we weren’t even totally convinced we did have until this point, was beyond full! This explained the smell outside, slow flushing toilet downstairs and the sewage water stuck in the external pipes underground.

Today the septic tank was emptied and all is well again. Well, we certainly hope it is. Although we still need some jetting to ensure it doesn’t get overloaded quicker than it needs to.

I need ‘un-stucking’

I think we can be easily guilty of getting stuck in with those draining rods, clearing the blockages we assume exist out of sight. But we can’t see down the drains without a special camera and I don’t’ have one of those sitting about, so I had to rely on the feedback of the poles. These told me that there was no blockage at all.

It can feel easier just to ‘put your back into it and get stuck in.’ But sometimes a gentle approach is far easier all round.

For me, with those drains, I could quickly ascertain that the blockage I had assumed existed, really did not. The only fix to the problem was to drain the septic tank to allow the system to work once again.

And, sometimes, we all need a little bit of unstucking – someone to come along and shift us from our entrenched position of pulling harder, and harder, and harder on that stubborn door, to be shown that it pushes open instead.

It doesn’t matter how much effort we put in – we’ll never pull open a door that needs to be pushed. But taking a step back when the red mist has fallen, the sweat has started stinging your eyes, you’re cold, you’re hungry and just want to flush the toilet without it trying to spill over onto the floor, can take more restraint than we may have at our disposal.

Which is why, if something seems too hard, double check you’re not trying to pull open a push only door or perhaps trying to unblock a septic tank that is already filled over capacity.

Sometimes, you just need to call in an expert and, thankfully, I know exactly who you can call – His name is Jesus and He always answers when we call.

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