It's Just Socks

Its Just Socks.jpg

You panic.  

You're late to work, your newborn is crying, and your significant other just asked you to take out the trash before you leave.  Did I mention that your dog just had an accident?  He most definitely did. However, before you can face any of these tasks before you, you have to get dressed.  However...your are faced with a problem.

You only have one sock.  

"Where the @$%&! is that other sock," you think to yourself.  You glance through the drawer as you button your shirt and pull your pants up.  You walk away to check your hair in the mirror, as you smooth out any wrinkles on your top, tuck in your shirt, and clasp your belt - all the while hoping that your missing sock just "appears."  You finish and rush to your dresser to see if the fugitive sock has returned, ready to face justice for it's crime.  Spoiler Alert: It hasn't.  You take a deep breath and give up on it as you reach for a different pair and face the day day ahead.

Flash forward three weeks later: You are getting ready to head outside and plant some grass seed in a few bare spots that creeped up during the winter.  Before you do, you head to your dresser to grab your fitbit thinking, "if I'm going to be doing some yard work, you might as well get credit for the steps - maybe I can skip the trip to the gym today."  As you grab your fitbit, you see something inbetween the dresser and the wall.  You reachdown, being careful to not bump your head on the corner of the dresser...you know this is possible from personal experience.  You reach inbetween the gap on your dresser and the wall - straining as you turn you head and contort your shoulder so that you have maximum wingspan to reach the object.  After a few failed attempts, you manage to grasp it and you stand up and behold the boon of your latest task.

A sock.

And it's not just any sock, but the sock you stressed over three weeks ago.  It was there in plain sight.

The whole time.

How often in life do we get stressed out or fall into panic over an item or an answer we can't seem to find...only to discover later that the solution to our query was right in front of us the whole time.  If only we had been patient. If only we had looked or worked just a bit longer and harder.  If only we had realized that no matter how insurmountable the problem that stood before us was, we just had to trust that the solution was in front of us as well.  One of the secrets in life is that - most of the time - things work out, we only need perspective to see how all of the puzzle pieces fit together.  

So, how do we wrap this all up and apply it to our every day?  The next time you are facing a problem - at work, at home, or in within the confines of your own mind - and you are tempted to get frustrated, angry, or just give up entirely - stop.  Remember that the solution is there, only waiting to be discovered.  And like that  miscreant, troublesome disappearing sock, the answer will turn up eventually (even if it doesn't present itself quite as quickly as we might want it to).

Until next time, I'd love to know what the "Socks" in your life are.  What challenges have you faced where, like the missing socks of our lives, the answers seemed to be illusive and show up when we least expected them to?  Feel free to share them in the comments below.

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"You Are Ordinary." (…and other lies we tell ourselves)