“White pants are hard…”
I got lipstick on my white pants the other day.
The spot wasn’t big, nothing too noticeable, I made a passing attempt to blot it out in the bathroom, which failed. I commented to a colleague about how it was the start of the day, and I already had something on my pants.
She said, “White pants are hard.”
Nothing new, nothing earth-shattering.
I’ve said “white is hard” before, about carpets, t-shirts, socks, etc. But I got to thinking about it later in the day
“White is hard.”
Is it?
Is that true?
Or does white require more care?
It made me wonder how often we say something is hard when what we mean is that it requires more care. I hear you say that speaking up, asking for what you want, or dealing with a challenging person, is hard for you.
But are they hard, or do they require you to care more?
There’s a difference.
Because we want to avoid what’s hard and we work hard for what we care about. But what would happen if you shifted from saying, “this is hard” to “this is something that requires me to care more?”
How would your circumstances change if you cared more about speaking up for yourself?
What would you have more of if you cared more about asking for what you want?
What would your relationships look like if you cared more about the challenging people in your life?
PS
If you’re reading this, it’s because you care.
A lot.