Dangerous Tea Party — Positive, Intuitive, Creative Musings from Brilliant Minds

Though there's a bit of a pejorative nature to the term, I am, at heart, an information junkie. One of my biggest assets, however, is my ability to extrapolate and integrate information from the myriad sources that serve as my teachers, and in turn, teach others. As it is in the collective, rather than in isolation, that we grow, I invite others to communicate their ideas and experiences here, as well, so we can each grow and improve our thoughts – and beings.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Life Lesson: Deal with the poop BEFORE it rains

1/25/05

You know how life sometimes has lessons for you? And how, sometimes, it takes more than one go-round to learn them?

One of mine, recently, has been a lesson about taking action NOW. Rather than procrastinate, justify, or wait for someone else to take care of my problems, I am learning first to focus, and then to take action. The fact is, it was my own original actions (or inactions) that got me here, so now there's nothing to do but claim this issue as mine, and take whatever steps are necessary to progress past it.

But taking action is only the first half of resolution. Have you ever noticed that the only thing action, alone, gets you is a bunch of unfinished projects? Action is useless unless it is accompanied by follow-through . . . all the way through to completion.

In my own life, I've found myself delaying those slightly bothersome issues until they become problems, and I am forced to deal with them.

Recently, an example of this behavior served as one of those huge "ah-ah" moments for me. I'd like to share that with you now.

I have two dogs — one, Moondanz, is small, a Jack Russell terrier. Brutus, on the other hand, is a German shepherd whose name belies his size.

On the day in question, I was out in the back yard, enlisted with the task of cleaning up after Moondanze and Brutus. As you might imagine, their "piles" differ in size, just like the dogs do. You'll understand if I tell you that picking up dog poop is not one of my favorite activities. This day was no exception. Except that when I went outside, committed to finally taking care of this lovely job, I realized it had rained overnight. Not drizzled or sprinkled. Rained. A lot.

[OK — there’s no way to keep this from getting a bit crass here, so if you have a weak stomach or are one of those highly sensitive types, you should probably just stop reading now.]

Back to the rain-soaked yard. And the piles of poop that are . . . no longer piles. They’re droopy, gloppy, amorphous masses that are next to impossible to pick up with a traditional pooper scooper.

Which meant . . . I had to get out the shovel.

The thing is, as I was shoveling poop into the trash bin, leaving a wake of naked soil patches amid the now very green grass, something occurred to me. Much as I don’t really love cleaning up after the dogs, it’s not that difficult a job. A few solid little piles here and there. You scoop ‘em up, toss ‘em into the bin, and you’re done. The only reason this day’s work was so much more challenging was because of the rain.

At that point, the ubiquitous light bulb went off. "Hey, this is a lot like that thing I’ve been avoiding." If I take care of it now, while it's still just a bothersome detail, it’s like a clean, solid pile of poop. I may not want to have to deal with it, but once I take care of it, it’ll be done. So why have I been putting it off? As I thought about it, I was reminded that, almost invariably, things aren’t as difficult or time-consuming as we think they’ll be . . . unless we wait till after it rains to try to pick up the poop.

You know what? I found out that something else happens when you wait till after it rains to pick up the poop. Because of the messy state of things, you’re not picking up just the pile anymore. You’re now including a goodly portion of grass and soil with each shovelful — making the bag really, really heavy when you go to dispose of it in the big communal trash bin in the alley.

I want to rewrite that old bumper sticker we all remember:

Poop Happens – You Gonna Get It Before the Rain Does?

We all have poop in our lives. Emotional poop. Relationship poop. Financial poop. Job poop. Family poop. It’s a fact of life — poop is part of being alive.

The question is, are you gonna take care of the poop now, when it’s mildly distasteful but certainly manageable? Or are you gonna wait till it rains for the poop to get gloppy and disgusting . . . so much so that you leave scars on the land (or people) as you deal with it?

I'll issue to you the challnege I've issued to myself: Take action daily. And follow through to completion. Otherwise, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself cleaning up after a rainstorm.
________________

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