MONDAY MINDSET: PASSION

WEEK OF 9/30/24

 

I have a disproportionate response to getting a sliver.

Getting hit in the head, or getting twisted on the mats, doesn’t really bother me too much.  But a splinter?  A tiny piece of wood or metal that works its way into your skin and just stays there, throbbing, for days.. I really, really hate that.

But it brings up a good point.  Sometimes we build up our defenses to the big things, and in doing so, allow the small things to worm their way through.

It could be negative self-talk, or a tendency to mildly binge on food or alcohol in times of stress, or a small creeping anxiety that keeps us off the mats one day.  Whatever it is.. these small things can become big problems.

It’s easy to write them off because they are “small” – but small can be dangerous too.  And hard to remove.

I had a splinter last week.. I had to work at it with a needle and tweezers for over an hour.  I had to put my entire attention to it.  For such a “small” thing, it was a big problem to resolve.

And some of our “small things” can be big problems to resolve as well – they require our full attention.  Our negative self-talk, for example, won’t just go away if we leave it alone.  We might have to work at it for a few weeks, even months, and maybe get in there with a scalpel or something and really make a mess of things before it gets better.  

We can’t just wave off certain things because they seem small.

Because the small things lead to big things.  

You build a wall brick by brick, but you can also tear one apart that way.