Get a Towel

Monday morning as I was writing, my children were eating their breakfast and watching Sports Center (as all “normal” American children do). My son came running into the office to tell me that he spilled his cereal.

My response was, “Get a towel and I will be right there.” His response was to stand there and stare at me.

I hit “Save” and headed to the kitchen. I found a nicely splattered, milk mess. Again I told him, “Get a towel.”

He just looked at me.

I grabbed a dry towel and a wet wash cloth. Handing the dry towel to my son, I said, “If you will wipe up the spilled milk, I will wash off the sticky stuff.” He started wiping up the milk (as I took this photo, of course).

When I asked him why he didn’t get a towel before coming to get me, he said, “I didn’t know what to do. I thought you were going to be mad at me.”

I hugged him and said, “I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t mad that you spilled your cereal or mad that you didn’t clean it up. I was frustrated that you didn’t try to clean it up.”

The solution to my son’s problem was simple. Get a towel.

His fears that I would be mad or that he would use the wrong towel were what held him back from solving his problem.

In life this happens to us all too often. We don’t fix things that are super simple to solve. We are afraid that our decisions or actions will be the wrong ones and the problem will get worse.

Cleaning up the messes of life isn’t always fun, but with concentrated focus and side-stepping inhibitions, they don’t have to stop us in our tracks. When you face problems today, trust your heart and your judgement. Sometimes the simplest thing is exactly what you need to get past your current obstacle. Don’t let fear of messing up hold you back. Take charge of your situation. Get a towel. You can do it.

By: Melanie A. Peters