Squeaky Doors
I’m a noticer. I notice the nuances of life that most others wouldn’t pay any attention to. I think the nuances of one’s life speak volumes about character, habits, desires and fears.
When I visit someone’s home and notice a squeaky door or something of that nature, I think to myself “ok, someone please find me a screwdriver and WD40 so I can fix that door”. It’s a 30 second fix, yet this person has decided to let it squeak away, simply stating “yeah that door has always squeaked”. Why?
Either the noise genuinely doesn’t bother them (fair enough), they are too lazy to fix it, or they believe they are too busy to spare the 30 seconds. I’ve found that it’s generally one of the latter options.
How many squeaky doors do you have in your life that you choose not to take a moment to fix or invest in? It could be a household fix-it, an issue at work or a relationship issue. It’s that little bur under the saddle that makes life a little more uncomfortable, but not always enough to compel you to change it.
What would your life look like if you took five minutes a day (35 minutes per week) to address squeaky doors? Are you really that busy? Think of your heroes and mentors. Do you notice a lot of “squeaky doors”? How many are relational?
Its as interesting to notice (about ourselves and others) how laziness to fix a squeak turns into acclimation to the sound, and eventually acceptance of the initial problem itself.
Great post.
Thanks Brittany, and yes, that’s an excellent observation as well. These things tend to accumulate after ignoring them for so long. Then before you know it, you’re surrounded by squeaky door situations. And at that point, it’s a lot more difficult to rectify. Much easier to just keep up with it all and deal with it as soon as it comes. The process takes discipline at first, but results in a great deal of peace. More of that Sweet Discipline.…
That’s why I keep you around. Because you fix squeaky doors (and lamps) even when they’re not yours to fix!
Completely true! I’ve noticed myself ignoring some (literally) squeaky doors in my life lately. I think it’s because I’m too caught up in the perfectionism of the other things. I think when we’re focussing more on excellence over perfection, as you said in your last post, that naturally it will follow that we find ourselves with fewer squeaky doors.