I recently bought a new “everyday” necklace.
Nothing fancy. Just one I liked and thought I’d wear a lot.
The only problem was that the fastening was a little fiddly to do up. It was smaller than many of the ones I’m used to fastening behind my neck, so it took a bit more concentration and a few attempts.
I was staying in a hotel recently and found myself taking several attempts to fasten it. I’d managed it first time yesterday, but apparently today wasn’t going to be one of those days.
I tried again.
And again.
Then, as I happened to be standing next to a full length mirror, I caught my own eye.
And had the quiet thought, this would be much easier if I could see what I was doing.
Well, yes.
It suddenly seemed obvious. I could simply swivel the necklace around to the front, fasten it while I could see what I was doing, and then swivel it back.
Problem solved.
And yes, I did immediately have both of these thoughts:
How did I not think of that earlier?
And:
That’s so obvious.
But actually, neither thought was particularly helpful.
Because it only seemed obvious once I’d seen it.
Before that, I was trying to solve the problem from exactly the same position I’d always solved it from. I wasn’t failing to fasten my necklace. I wasn’t being stupid. I just hadn’t thought to change where I was looking from.
I think we do this with rather more than necklaces.
Sometimes we can spend an awful lot of time trying to make something work. Trying harder. Thinking harder. Going over the same ground. Wondering why we can’t seem to find the answer that, when we finally see it, looks ridiculously simple.
And perhaps there’s nothing wrong with us for not seeing it sooner.
Perhaps we just couldn’t see it from where we were standing.
Sometimes a little space, a different perspective, or simply being able to see what we’re actually doing is enough.
And once you’ve seen it, of course it seems obvious.
But it wasn’t obvious before.
And that’s OK.
If there’s something on your list you’ve been trying to fasten from behind for a while, I’m hosting Bring Your To-Do List on Thursday 8th October, 2–7pm UK time. A bit of space, some good company, and you don’t have to do it all on your own. You can find out more here.
If something in this post resonates and you’d like to explore it further, reach out. I’d be happy to talk.
