An Easy Fix

Have you ever found yourself procrastinating and avoiding something in your life that you thought was going to be a really big problem to address? Or, maybe it didn't even seem like a big problem, but rather just an issue you didn't know how to resolve? It could even be something you knew you couldn't handle yourself, but weren't even sure who to call to help you. I'm sure we've all been there.

I had a broken toilet seat in my house for over two years. It was one of those situations where it moved when you sat on it. Well, truth be told, it sort of shifted back and forth. It was very unsettling to sit down and slide to one side and then the other! Not exactly what you would expect when sitting down on the toilet!

I was sure the seat was broken and needed to be replaced. It is important to understand that I am the least 'handy' person on the planet. I'm completely incompetent when it comes to things of a mechanical nature. I just don't have any skill or ability in that area what-so-ever.

My plan was to purchase a new toilet seat and have it available for a handy man that I was hiring to do a bunch of little things around my house. I looked at the seat one day, to try to determine what I needed to buy. I wasn't sure how many types/styles of toilet seats were avail ale and wanted to make sure I purchased the right thing.

As I looked at the toilet seat, I wondered how it was attached to the toilet. Honestly, I had no idea before this moment. I determined that there were little covers over the two points where the seat seemed to attach to the porcelain. I figured out how to open the caps, and saw that there were large plastic screws under those caps. "Hmmmmm," I wondered, "Maybe I should get a screw driver and see if I can tighten these up?"

I'm sure you can guess what happened next. I got a screw driver and went back to the toilet. I tightened the screws and suddenly, my 2 year long sliding toilet seat problem was FIXED! It was that simple! I suffered with that dratted, annoying toilet seat for over 2 years, and all that it needed was a screw driver and a 5 second long adjustment to the screws!

I feel silly telling you this story. However, it illustrates a point that many of us can benefit from. Sometimes the answer is really easy. We don't see it, because we BELIEVE the answer must be difficult and elusive. I've convinced myself that I'm incapable of fixing things around my house. To me, all such problems seem way beyond my comprehension! Now, while it's true that I am not particularly skilled in this area, I have more capability than I give myself credit for. My blanket statements of incompetence, keep me from being open minded about easy solutions!

I'm working on changing that attitude! I want to be open to the idea that I can actually solve more of my problems than I believe I can! This way, I can avoid situations like suffering for more than 2 years with a slippery, sliding toilet seat! wouldn't that be nice!

It pays to take a look at our beliefs about ourselves. Sometimes we are creating our problems, or turning molehills into mountains, simply with our thinking. Changing that... is a simple fix, but maybe not as easy as tightening a toilet screw! Still, it's well worth the effort!