I guess it got lost along the way, but I used to have a sign above my desk – a quote supposedly by Mark Twain – that said: “If you have a frog to swallow, don’t look at it too long; and, if you have more than one frog to swallow, swallow the biggest one first!”
Now, I’ve never really swallowed a frog, unless eating frog legs counts – but in that case, they were no longer alive, they were seasoned and cooked. However, I have, on occasion, had a day in which I faced some unpleasant task … really unpleasant. Maybe I had to let an employee go, an employee that I really liked, but one that was not performing to the level required by the job. Maybe it was the need to respond to a student about why they received a failing grade on a paper that they thought was great. Maybe it was about confronting a person about, what I considered to be, their inappropriate behavior.
You get the gist. I doubt there are any of us who haven’t faced an unpleasant task, and we’ve put it off …because it is unpleasant. There are tasks that we put things off, hoping that somehow, they will go away, they will take care of themselves, but they never do. They just stay … waiting for us to act.
The truth is that no matter how long we put off the unpleasant task, it isn’t going to become any easier. Equally true is the great relief we experience once we have done it. Even when the results might not be what we had hoped for, even though the encounter may have ended on an unpleasant note … it was done! An emotional weight was lifted … and we felt better.
We have an Inner Magnificence that wants us to feel good about our lives, that wants us to squeeze as much joy as we can into each day, and this magnificence will give us the strength and courage to do what needs to be done so we can get past the unpleasantness and move on to the relief.
What happens to a lot of us is that, instead of trusting ourselves, our inner magnificence, we put off the unpleasantness … and prolong the discomfort by thinking about how unpleasant the task seems.
Susan Jeffers, author of the best-selling Feel the Fear, and Do It Anyway, has a slogan: “No matter what happens, I can handle it!” Imagine what it would be like to see the frog, and remind yourself that, no matter what happens, I can handle it!
Here’s my invitation for today: stop putting off those unpleasant tasks … those tasks that, the longer you look at them, the more overwhelming they feel. Go ahead, stop looking at the frog and swallow it! Believe that your Inner Magnificence has got your back … and there is nothing that you – through it – can’t handle! And, if you have several frogs to swallow, swallow the biggest one first!
The extent to which you do is the extent to which you’ll step into your splendor and you’ll be able to say: “I feel good about being me!” … and that’s a promise!
Photo Credit: https://www.maxpixel.net/Amphibian-Green-Water-Eyes-Frog-Pond-Animal-2525109
