I can’t help but remember (and laugh) thinking of the I Love Lucy episode, where she and Ethel get a job working on a chocolate candy conveyor belt. They’re told they can’t let one candy pass unwrapped or they will be fired. At first it seems easy and manageable, and then the chocolates start coming faster and faster.
They can’t possibly keep up. So they start shoving chocolates in their mouths, down their shirts, and even in their hats. They’ll do anything to keep those chocolates from passing by. It’s hilarious.
But it’s not sustainable.
They can’t continue to eat enough chocolate or stuff enough chocolate to keep their jobs. All that stuffing is a temporary fix. Inevitably, the belt is going to move faster. More and more chocolate will keep showing up.
Something will have to give.
If you watch this little 2 minute clip, you’ll see that near the end, Ethel let’s one pass. She simply cannot shove one more chocolate into her mouth, her shirt, or her hat. She can’t grab another one with her already full hands.
What’s going to give in your life?
When you’re running from this to that, with barely a second to breathe, which piece of chocolate is going to get through unwrapped? The conveyor belt isn’t going to stop tomorrow, next week, or even next year.
Only you can decide which chocolate to let go.
I feel like this with email, birthday parties, my to-do list, thank you notes and so many other things… they’re all good and each one brings something different to my life, but trying to stay on top of it all just isn’t sustainable.
Sometimes I have to let it slip by and let it go.
What’s interesting is, the boss lady who threatened to fire them if a chocolate passed, didn’t even seem to notice the piece that passed and she turned up the speed on the belt. And the chocolates just kept coming.
Something to remember is that almost everyone feels like they are working that conveyor belt sometimes.
I bet if you stop long enough to look at your partner, or your best friend, you’ll see wide eyes and a mouth full of chocolate.
Laugh together.
Then let the chocolate go.
to more love,
Crystal
