The thermos flask I had filled warm milk in last night, had not been closed properly. When i woke up today morning, I accidentally kicked it. Being half asleep, I wasn’t nimble enough to pick up the fallen flask from the ground. 10 minutes later, when the full import of what happened hit me, it was too late. The milk was all over the floor, and the whole area was a sticky mess. It took me an extended bit of (unnecessary) effort to clean everything up.
There were three things I took away (apart from the standard “crying over spilt milk” š )
Do it right the first time.
If I had only closed the lid tightly (just 1 second more), it would have saved me 20 minutes later.
And if I can think 1 second more, before blurting out something to someone I can never take back. Or if I can do something (like a meaningless office task or home chore that I don’t like) in 1 minute and move on, instead of not doing it and thinking about it for the next hour or more.
Messes happen.
But the cleanup can be much easier if we rush to stem the flow.
It could be picking up a fallen container quickly, or making amends with someone quickly, or apologising for a mistake quickly.
Stand back up to grow.
The flask fell, but that has not diminished its capacity to store more liquid tonight. Far too often, we hit the floor but never stand back up fully. Unlike the finite flask, we can actually grow into bigger and better. But we need to stand back up.