Indian Decor by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1894 by Agnes Fairchild
This post is a reply to "If it's Bad Now, Good," posted to this site on 1/8/15. -PMV
I'm rather adept at avoiding my mental elephants. I fall asleep with the TV on, so that my brain can't spend too much time mulling things in those vulnerable last moments of consciousness. I parcel my days into tasks to be accomplished and then procrastinate in the numbing land of Buzzfeed and YouTube. I relish going to work, where all my other problems have to be shelved so I can disappear into checklists and popcorn orders. And I hide in people, letting their preferences wash over my own so I don't have to make choices.
I don't like to sit in silence and let the elephants solidify. Elephants, frankly, are too big. They're too much to tackle at once. A tail or a tusk or a toe, maybe, but not the whole elephant. Looking at a whole elephant can be overwhelming.
This post is a reply to "If it's Bad Now, Good," posted to this site on 1/8/15. -PMV
I'm rather adept at avoiding my mental elephants. I fall asleep with the TV on, so that my brain can't spend too much time mulling things in those vulnerable last moments of consciousness. I parcel my days into tasks to be accomplished and then procrastinate in the numbing land of Buzzfeed and YouTube. I relish going to work, where all my other problems have to be shelved so I can disappear into checklists and popcorn orders. And I hide in people, letting their preferences wash over my own so I don't have to make choices.
I don't like to sit in silence and let the elephants solidify. Elephants, frankly, are too big. They're too much to tackle at once. A tail or a tusk or a toe, maybe, but not the whole elephant. Looking at a whole elephant can be overwhelming.
But it's a different thing to look at the elephant and have faith that the whole creature doesn't need to be dealt with at once. And chances are, while staring at the elephant, other tasks will emerge. There are little hurdles: maybe a tusk or a tail, maybe something else entirely that feels like procrastination, like clearing brush or building a fire. But those things could come in handy when it really is time to face the herd. You don't always know what skills or tools you might pick up that could be useful down the line.
The elephants don't need to be dealt with tonight, they don't need to be faced head on. And sometimes the baby step is just believing that you are capable of baby steps. That little things will eventually add up. That not all accomplishments come through a big, heroic battle.
Faith gets such a bad rep, bastardized by religion. But faith -- in the broader sense that there will be a new opportunity around the corner, and in the more narrow sense of faith in one's self -- might be the only way to tackle elephants in the end.
The elephants don't need to be dealt with tonight, they don't need to be faced head on. And sometimes the baby step is just believing that you are capable of baby steps. That little things will eventually add up. That not all accomplishments come through a big, heroic battle.
Faith gets such a bad rep, bastardized by religion. But faith -- in the broader sense that there will be a new opportunity around the corner, and in the more narrow sense of faith in one's self -- might be the only way to tackle elephants in the end.
