I found out recently that I have a special gift; the uncanny ability to transform a small wad of tissues into a thousand pieces of mini tissues. No, I’m not really a magician. For those of you fortunate enough not to have left tissues in your jacket pocket before tossing it in the washing machine, you have no idea what I mean (Don’t do it, it’s a terrible idea!). For everyone else like me, who was too lazy to check the pockets beforehand, you know exactly what I am talking about.

What really rips me is that a hundred times before, I checked every blasted pocket in each piece of clothing that went into the wash. One load after another, hundreds of pockets searched diligently and not a single thing found. Then the moment I let my guard down, I ended up with a mess on my hands. I spent the next several minutes sweeping up what seemed like a dry version of a snow globe explosion.

I couldn’t help but think about how easily unexpected things can occur the moment we let our guards down. I don’t mean walking around uptight and stressed about everything that comes along. I mean we should be diligent in routine, everyday matters. We get so accustomed to doing them that we are tempted to slack off at times. But that is one way how unwanted changes slip into our lives. It starts small, missing only a minor thing. If the action is repeated, it gets easier to slip the second time, which often slides us even further away. Before we know it, we miss out completely on doing the things we need to be doing.

Eventually, the stuff piles up and a sense of being overwhelmed hits us hard. To make matters worse, it’s going to take a lot more to correct the situation now. I didn’t do a time study on it but cleaning up afterward was much worse than the few seconds it would have taken to check my pockets. That’s how it often goes though. It’s funny how we create more work for ourselves by trying to avoid work than if we had just gone ahead and did what needed to be done.