Last Saturday the kids and I went to visit my friend Kelly at her house. We never really visited people much. I never knew how Syd would react. Or if she would break something. We would have to leave in a hurry. And we were never invited back again.
I was relieved when my kids went right inside and made themselves at home. I knew I could let me guard down and enjoy spending time with my friend.
It was fun catching up with Kelly. It was something that her husband Mark said that made us both stop and think. If a hammer is the only tool you have. Then everything starts to look like a nail.
I may have gotten the words mixed up. But think about that for a moment. If the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer. You are going to fix all of the problems that require a hammer. Or you begin to treat everything like it has a nail in it. ~Abraham Maslow
Stay with me. You will see where I am going with this phrase. There are times when we have a variety of tools to use. Yet, we use the ones that make us comfortable. The hammer might not be the tool that we really need to use. Being forced to use tools that we aren’t familiar with to fix a situation may cause us problems down the line.
When I think about my past. I was using a hammer. I forced myself to believe that all of my problems were nails and I had the right tool to fix them. I was fooling myself. I really needed a power drill or chain saw. Tools that I was not familiar with using. Tools that I would need to read the instructions for before solving my problem.
I could have asked someone for help. But I wasn’t comfortable doing that. Everyone around me was capable of using different tools in their toolbox. Why was it such a struggle for me?
My vision and my mind were clouded. I needed things to be simple because everything around me was going to hell. When I least expected it. When I was out of options and the hammer wasn’t working because I didn’t see nails anymore. It finally happened.
I saw each area of my life differently. Each area required a specific tool. It was in that moment that I knew we would be okay. It was now my responsibility to make sure that I had the right tools in my toolbox?
What’s in your toolbox?
A Woman's Work - Brooke Basically Blogging 