A chapter from Walk Your Way to Better by Joyce Shulman.
Walking up the stairs in my house the other day, I noticed a ball of dust and dog hair in the corner of a step. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and kept walking. Later that afternoon, I noticed it again. And then again the next morning. And one more time before I finally picked it up.
Now in my defense, the first time I had walked up the stairs, I had something in my hands and the second time, I was on my way to do something. But, if I’m going to be really honest, with you and with myself, I just didn’t feel like bending over and picking up the dustball.
Here’s the thing: every time I noticed the dustball and didn’t pick it up, I expended a tiny bit of my mental energy. I squandered a sliver of my focus. And every time I noticed it, but didn’t bother to pick it up, I knew I was going to have to notice it again and think about it again until I did something about it.
Now sometimes, if you ignore the dustball, it will seem to go away, perhaps getting blown down the steps and under the couch where it will meet up with other dustballs and remain, happily just out of sight. But even though you can’t see it, that dustball is still there and it can, in the most subtle and insidious ways, cause you trouble. It can trigger allergies or blow out from under the couch at the most inopportune moments, like when you have your mother-in-law over.
Just to be clear, we’re not just talking about dustballs (though that thing with the dustball on the stairs really did happen). We are talking about the little, messy things that pop up in our lives that should be dealt with and addressed: the conversation you don’t want to have, the project you don’t want to do or the phone call you don’t want to make. The nagging physical problem you don’t want to call the doctor about. Ignored, dustballs get bigger and every time you notice them, they capture more of your valuable—and limited—mental energy.
We all have lots and lots of dustballs in our lives and when you let the dustballs pile up, your house gets messier and messier.
Dealing with your dustballs is critical to clearing the path to the life you want.
What dustballs are you dealing with in your own life right now. Are there difficult conversations you need to have that are lurking at the corner of your mind, which pop up from time to time in your mind, but that you keep pushing away? A physical issue that you’ve been ignoring, even though it continues to crop up from time to time? An area of your home that isn’t as tidy or as organized as you wish that “bothers” you every time you notice it or think about it? Those are your dustballs.
This month, make a commitment to picking up the dustballs. This month, let’s Get It Done.
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