It’s Mine To Do - Grasshopper

For over 40 years I’ve been in the “people helping” business and there is one piece of wool that continues to be pulled over our eyes: Someone can go to the bathroom for you.

An old story goes like this: a drunk patron is sitting at a table about 20 feet away from the men’s room in a tightly crowded bar and has a giant urge to pee. He knows, in his condition, if he attempts to get up and go across room, he’ll fall flat on his face. He fumbles for his wallet and feebly pulls out a $20 bill. He taps a passerby on the leg to get his attention and says, “Hey, here’s $20, I’ll give it to you if you go take a piss for me.”

As absurd and sad as that sounds, the notion that someone or something else is going to do it for you is rampant in our society.

Look at any antacid TV commercial. An actor pretends to have acid indigestion but continues to eat pizza which makes his condition worse. Enter the savior: Prilosec®, Mylanta®, Tums®, et al. Cue the announcer: “Just take Pepto Bismol® before eating pizza and you can have your pie and eat it too.” A few hours later that acid returns and still burns.

There are more people in therapy than at any time in history. That’s a good thing: recognizing that you need help and seeking it out. But if your therapist, counselor, rabbi, priest, or imam doesn’t tell you this at some point, your problem will continue to churn and no lesson will be learned: “After all my wise and experienced counsel, it’s your problem to solve.”

Joining a gym will not get you trim . . . unless you go regularly and do the routine your fitness expert mapped out for you. How many people do you know that bought the spiffy, new, gym outfit and went to the facility once or twice and then said this: “I tried doing the gym thing, it just didn’t work for me. That’s as stupid as the professional golfer who had a bad round saying, “My putter wasn’t working today.” 

The stark reality is you have work at it. There are no shortcuts or potions that are going to do it for you. Take a look at the long-term results of fad diets and drugs like Ozempic®. They’re nonexistent. Clinical research proves the results are temporary,  just like the relief you get from Tums®.

Until you come to the realization that “it’s mine to do,” you’ll continue to piss your pants and remain in your “someone or something else will do it for me” trance.

All the best,