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The Tale of the Nail
Well, Jed was visiting his buddy Clem up at the farmstead one day. Two friends just shootin’ the breeze. Clem was rocking in his chair on his old front porch and Jed took notice that whenever ol’ Clem would lean back, the hound dog sleeping at the far end of the porch would give a baleful ‘woo’. After a while, Jed was moved to pity the poor dog and said to his friend, “Why, Clem, have you noticed your hound dog a’moaning?” “Sho ’nuff.” says Clem. “You see, Jed, there’s a nail stickin’ up out of that board he’s sleepin’ on. I recon he’s gettin’ poked near every time I rock back.” Jed tipped his hat back and scratched his head a bit. “Oh, Clem, that’s terrible. If’n it hurts, how come he don’t move?” Clem thought on that a moment and said with a shrug, “Guess it don’t hurt that much.”
We all know people like the hound dog. They kick a little fuss whenever the wind blows, but they won’t bother to take cover. They’re comfortably uncomfortable. The bills are paid, the kids are fed, but there’s a nagging sense of unhappiness at their lot in life.
If you’re here reading this, I suspect you are not one of those people. You are an action taker. You are getting on with your life. You have a plan and you’re working your way to a state of personal independence. For that, I salute you. Does that determination last 24×7? If so, you are really on a roll and I doubly salute you.
If not, you’re like a lot of people, myself included. You do your best. You try to stay positive and keep that forward momentum, but the winds of ill fortune start steering you in the way of a pity party. Just remember, you get to choose how you perceive things. You can see the glass half empty or half full. You can see yourself drifting towards those shoals of self-pity and steer clear. Sometimes you can do it intentionally or sometimes you will get a kind word from a friend. I received a tremendously uplifting email from Eric Louviere today. He was there for me right in the nick of time.
Do you have someone you can rely on to pull you out of a funk? Yes, you do. It’s me.
If you’re feeling down or stuck in a rut, drop me a line. I’m here to help and to pay it forward.