Do Turnips Bleed?

This morning I was running on fumes. My gas tank was empty too. I get up pretty early to go to the gym and my morning schedule is pretty tight (insert “world’s smallest violin” remark). I decided to take my chances and drive to the gym at 5am and get gas on my way to work. Once I got to the gas station, I couldn’t find my wallet. I looked all over my car, my gym bag and my lunch bag. I recently started carrying another bag that has my business notebook, tablet and other things that I use to blog and podcast on the road….it wasn’t there either. I must have gone through my car and bags 3 or 4 times.

I was already on the verge of being late but I had no choice but to go all the way home and look for my wallet there. So I sent my boss a text and headed home. I sent my wife a message letting her know that I might run out of gas on the way so she could be ready just in case.

When I got home, the kids were already up and asked if I felt ok or was I taking a sick day (never happens). After good morning hugs, I started to go all over the house looking for my wallet. We had an Easter party the day before with all our immediate family so I was fearing the worst; that it might have gotten misplaced and that I would have to cancel my cards and get a new licence. Anyone who has had to do this knows what a pain this is (I’ve done it once before).

After looking through all the usual hiding places and the clothes I wore the day before I had no other choice but to look through my car again. This ordeal had already made me 45 minutes late and my patience was wearing thin. Front seat, back seat, gym bag and business bag. I noticed that I missed looking though one of the zippered pockets and low and behold...there was my wallet.

Sometimes in life we want to make decisions that might make our lives harder because we aren’t getting what we want. We do this without truly exploring all the avenues and resources at our disposal. Or, the things that we have to do to make progress aren’t very attractive to us. We would rather take on a new task so we think we’re making progress (busy work) instead of hunkering down and really exploring all the possibilities of the task at hand. Maybe the idea that you haven’t thought of or the task that you hate to do is the one thing that will propel you to the next level. If I would have taken my time and thoroughly looked in all the nooks and crannies in my car, I wouldn’t have had to drive home and I wouldn’t have been late to work.

Some people say that you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip...I think they just aren’t squeezing hard enough.

Andres