Too Much Information
This might be TMI when it comes to the Conlees, but apparently, we have sensitive buns!Several years ago, my mother graciously bought a large supply of Charmin® toilet paper from Sam's and delivered it to our house. Mark was especially impressed by this upgrade to our supply. As a result, almost every holiday he has asked my mom to continue to supply us with toilet paper. She frequently obliges, which makes my pocketbook happy, as well as Mark’s buns.A few weeks ago, I noticed we were getting to the end of the supply, so I grabbed some toilet paper at the store. From the outside, it looked like a pretty big roll. I stocked our guest bathroom with this new purchase and went on my way… until I was copied on the text you see above. What appeared to be thick and fluffy was a harsh reality. And out of sheer desperation, Mark reached out for help.Of course, there’s a whole other blog on “first world problems”… but I remember saying to Mark when I saw his comedic approach, "It looked just like what we had before." It said the right things on the package, but did not live up to the description.The problem with one-ply toilet paper is that when it breaks, you have a real mess on your hands. It made me think about how many areas of our lives look good, but in reality it's just one-ply living. We’re simply trying to get by. Mark is my neat child who tends to avoid having a mess on his hands. We could actually learn from him. What if we look at our lives, identify the one-ply areas, and decide to be as proactive as Mark in coming up with a solution?
- Do you have one-ply relationships? Is there someone you know who upon hearing just one misunderstood word could have a breakdown? What could you proactively do to build into the relationship and create some trust?
- In your finances, are you barely one unexpected expense away from having a mess on your hands? What do you need to do now to move to two-ply? Just hoping won't do it.
- In your job, is there somewhere you're just getting by? Is there an area that’s so fragile, one wrong move could have a ripple effect?
Sometimes, half-truths and exaggerations leave you with one-ply living. At any moment, a misstep would cause a ton of regret. What if you decided to begin living in such a way that you could put your head on the pillow each night and know that you were doing the right things? What would it feel like to move to a place where there's nothing that someone could discover that would leave you with a mess on your hands?Don’t mistakenly live in a one-ply world. The stakes are too high. Regardless of what area you need to address, there are people and resources designed to help you. Find a mentor, sign up for Financial Peace University, show up to Celebrate Recovery, seek wise counsel.What do you need to do to avert trouble? twitter | facebook