The Rock In Your Shoe

We have all experienced the rock in our shoe.

While walking along a small rock somehow makes its way into our shoe and works its way down to the sole of our foot under the sock. The discomfort is so small that we will often not give it enough consideration to stop what we are doing and remove the rock. Instead, we change our behavior and walk a little differently or slow down somewhat to adjust for the irritation.

Another example of this controllable event is when we are driving for a while and the farther we drive the more agitated and upset we get. We know something is really bothering us but we can't explain what, because we are not paying attention to the details. Then we realize that over thirty minutes ago we drove through a rain storm and now that we are driving in the sun, we snap that our windshield wipers are still on high!

Far too often we accept things the way they are, because we just don't want to make the changes necessary to make things better. Instead we adjust our behavior or our standards or our expectations and accept less than we should. Many times the things that need to be changed are minor and will require little effort to adjust and become more street savvy. Many times people are the source of the irritation that we accept and often they are not aware because no one cared enough, to point out the bad behavior before it became a major issue. People deserve to know and if they don't want to change, perhaps they deserve the opportunity to go and do something else, somewhere else.

Don't accept the rock in your shoe as something that just has to be. Make the decisions to make the changes and stop accepting that things cannot be different. Because, when you modify your behavior or your urgency or your direction because of the small thing that just isn't right, you started the compromise-slide and soon enough you will discover that you are compromising on boulders in your shoe all because you didn't take the time to remove the pebble.