Step by Step...

A child was recently explaining to me about a dilemma they are in. They were given a choice to clean up their (incredibly messy) room and receive a birthday present or forfeit the present and keep the room as it is.

As you can imagine, they didn’t wish to miss out on the present, however the mammoth task of cleaning their room was really not appealing. In their own words, ‘it will take days and days to clean it’.

They asked for my advice and I suggested if they wanted the present and went down the room cleaning route, rather than attempt to clean and sort it over the course of a single day (which didn’t sound possible anyway), perhaps they could tackle it corner by corner or section by section to make the task more manageable, achievable and over the course of a week they will do it. Furthermore, I felt that as each corner became visible this may motivate and encourage rather than the current feeling of dread.

I was thinking back on this conversation and it made me think initially how the room wouldn’t have become this messy over the course of a single day, as such why attempt to sort it out in a single day. Likewise so many things in life build up over time and will benefit from being tackled/managed over time.

Secure and stable relationships build over time, buildings get completed over time (likewise, both of these can also erode over time), there will be a beginning a middle and an end to most conversations we have, it takes time to prepare a meal (often less time to consume it!). Time may not always appear to be our friend, however it can often deliver lasting security when we utilise it to our benefit.