Weekday mornings in our house consist of sleeping until the last possible minute, flinging through the shower, throwing clothes at the kids to put on and running out of the house like it’s on fire. Makeup? What’s that? I brushed my teeth, be grateful! So, most morning meals are eaten in the car on the way to school. The backseat of the car may look like a restaurant after the last shift but it’s the price to pay for an extra five minutes of sleep, am I right?
One morning, my son left a cup of milk in my car. When I got into the car at lunchtime, it smelled god awful! Have you ever inhaled the stench of milk left in a hot car for four hours?? Like, UGH. It is truly one of life’s olfactory traumas!
My first thought was, “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” But, it hadn’t spilled, it was curdled. See, spilled milk is a mistake. Curdled milk is the consequence of intentionally avoiding an issue until it’s unmanageable. I had become so accustomed to the chaos that it took a smell equivalent to infant vomit to jar me back to reality! All of a sudden, I couldn’t deal with the leftover breakfast bar wrappers and the empty juice pouches, either. I wanted my clean car back!
We don’t have to resort to debilitating self-deprecation when we make a mistake. We all make mistakes. But, we can find the courage to face our missteps, own our struggles and learn and grow from them. Taking on that challenge is a far healthier response than avoiding things until life explodes.
Is there an area in your well-being that is “curdling”? What is keeping you from dealing with it?
