Just Pull off the Band-aid and Be Done

For Scribbled lives we were asked to create a piece around something we do not like doing or using. I thought about the things I don’t like to do, or don’t use very often and I thought about the color brown. Poor brown, not often first choice for people when it comes to wardrobe or decorating…and then I found this quote from Winston Churchill about brown:

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about the colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.

– Winston Churchill 1965

I then forced myself to pull out all sorts of brown inks and pens, put my personal dislikes aside and I worked in the color brown. I actually had fun doing this one AND did not realize how many different variations I had on brown. Now, I also must admit that my opinion of brown has not really changed much…and that’s okay. Brown is what it is and it was not my goal to do anything other than the assignment. Hooray for brown…I guess??!?

We all have things we do not like doing that are part of our lives. Dishes, dusting, taxes, cleaning up pet hair…you have them, right? Things you don’t like to do but must to do to maintain your world. Maybe it is your expense report? Maybe it is eating a meal with your in-laws? Maybe it is getting your hair cut or even mowing the lawn. Life demands things of us that we do not like doing…okay, welcome to being an adult! If you have pets, they have hair and you probably need to clean it up. If you make money you have taxes, which means you have to do them and file them. Okay, I get it! We all have things we HAVE TO DO and do not like doing.

Complaining, procrastinating, postponing and even avoiding these things only makes it all worse! These elements of life are best handled like taking off a band-aid…rip it off quickly and the pain is done. Pull it off slowly and you only prolong the suffering. I do not like the color brown and yet in some of my work I MUST use it…trees are brown, wood is brown…so just get it done and move on.

Today let me encourage you to tackle the brown things in your life. Get them done, do what has to be done and then you can move onto another task you do like doing. Stop focusing on the poor color brown…it is what it is. You don’t have to like it, just pull off that band-aid and be done.