… is that they only cover the problem up. They don’t actually help with the healing.
My lawn mower has been broken for at least six months. Every time a new problem arose, my roommates and I performed another band-aid fix, getting it to function for just long enough to mow the lawn one more time.
Yesterday, sick and tired of the recurrent need to place band-aids on the lawn mower, I sat down and fixed the damn thing. All in all it took around an hour, far less time than the hours of anger and struggle spent previously, and followed by a much more psychologically rewarding moment “it’s actually fixed!”.
It’s so easy to put band-aids on our problems, especially those that are unpleasant. Yet when we finally take the time to truly fix the problem, things are infinitely better. Don’t have the time to fix it? That’s okay, but that doesn’t mean you need to put a band-aid on it. Some healing starts naturally, and the open wound is a reminder that you need a real fix for the problem.
3 Comments
I love this! (And I hate Band-aids- real and metaphorical.) I worry sometimes that we orient from an “aw just shake it off” mindset that suppresses the ability over time to recognize the problem because what was once a band-aid has become anesthesia and we are numb to the problem. If you can no longer see the lawn mower, or care about the lawn, it becomes daunting to “fix” the problem.
Great post!
That last bit is so true as well- the problem becomes invisible until we hit a tipping point that makes it apparent again. Best to not hit the tipping point altogether.
Agreed!