I walked into the eating area of our RV and immediately noticed the blind. My husband had opened it and it was sitting at an angle.
I have to straighten this up, I thought. I reached over to fix it and paused. Was a crooked blind important in the grand scheme of things? Sunlight was entering the room regardless of the angle.
My husband sometimes sets up situations like this as little tests, to see how long it will take me to react and make my correction. This may or may not have been the case, but with this thought in mind, I left the blind as it was – all day!
Rather than being bothered by it not sitting right, I appreciated the open blind allowing light to flood into the space.
Too often in life I have allowed my ideas of how things should be done to impact my day. If something doesn’t sit right with my rules, there must be a problem. In those cases I fail to realize two things.
The first is not everyone has the same rules on basic things such as how towels are folded, the orientation of the toilet paper roll, or the importance of straight blinds.
The second is even more challenging; it’s not all about me! Your ideas are every bit as valid as mine. We can agree to disagree.
After surviving the crooked blind incident, I truly understand the statement Don’t sweat the small stuff!
Or as Thomas Jefferson said, In matters of style, go with the flow. In matters of principle, stand like a rock (paraphrased).
I like that quote!
This story could be about me! I even straighten pictures on the walls in a waiting room and pick all the dead leaves from a plant that obviously needs watering (I drew the line at finding some water). It really is much better to remember that I’m probably the only one who notices these minor “infractions” 🙂
It’s funny the things we think we should ‘fix’ for others! Thanks for sharing.