Deep End First

Deep End First

I was vacuuming my pool the other day. I find it therapeutic being out there with just the sound of nature around me, and the sound of the water being poured back into the pool by our filter system through little spouts on the stairs.

What a blessing it is to have a pool here at our house in SC where I feel like a puffy greasy piping hot brick oven pizza for a third of the year. You know how you sometimes have to sop off the delicious grease that pools in the pepperoni? It’s like that, but not quite as tantalizing.

When  I vacuum  I always think to myself, “Maybe I should change things up and go in the other direction today. Starting with the shallow end first and finishing in the deep end.” Each time, however, I end up following the same path, doing the deep end first because it’s a bit harder and more time consuming with the angles of the incline and such, leaving the shallow part for last which is faster and easier. It also makes more sense because by that point I’m reaching the maximum heat threshold for this body of mine, and it’s kinder to myself to be doing the simple part last when I’m running out of steam.

This got me thinking. In life we should always start with the deep end first as well. I have learned over the years, that in our healing journey we must dig deep into the trauma work that needs to be done first so the rest is easier.

If we only focus on the day to day small surface things, which seems easier and keeps us occupied, the deep end gets darker, murkier and more full of debris. If we clean out the deep end first, which I will acknowledge is harder and takes more effort and more time to clean up, keeping up with the surface stuff is easier. It’s less stressful because you don’t still have that huge mess underneath to deal with.

I learned many years ago the adage,  “eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the whole day” my kids have heard that from me more times than they would like to admit, I’m sure. But it’s so true!!! It can have the deeper meaning, like I mentioned before, but applies to the day to day stuff as well. Attack the hardest thing first, and the rest is easier.

So today  I will follow my own advice. There’s a bathroom I’ve been putting off. Time to don some gloves and get to work. When I finish that chore everything else will seem easy in comparison. Right? Do the work. Need help with the deep end? Reach out. I’ll cheer you on.

Have a blessed day.