Before she started painting I got the full run down of what was going to be on the picture, the adventures the cat was going on, how the sky was getting painted, and some important details about sunshine LOL.About 3 minutes into the work, she had paint all over her hand and didn’t notice, bam right in middle of the paper, random huge spot. She looked startled, she looked up at me, over at her brother, and back at her paper in just a few seconds.I totally felt bad for her. I thought she might start crying, or ask to start over. She didn’t.Her puzzled look cleared up in seconds and out came a whole new story about this cat, and what was now going to be a bush. She didn’t even consider this “a mistake” or her work “messed up” because something happened to thwart her original plan.
She actually looked excited, just as excited as she had looked when I heard the first plan. NOTHING WENT TO PLAN AND IT DIDN’T EVEN PHASE HER. Painting continued regardless.
At no point did she decide she was a failure, decide she would never paint again, or mutter to herself something like she wasn’t good at painting. She didn’t ask my opinion if she should keep painting, or compare her paper to anyone else’s. She wanted to paint, so she did, end of story.
Can you imagine if we lived this way as adults? If we weren’t worried that any veering of of our plans meant we had failed and should walk away? If we just experienced the path as it was, versus how we think it should be? If we stayed focused on the end goal, NOT the tactics of exactly how to get there?
What if we were like this in our marriages, our careers, our education and our friendships?! How about our personal growth or fitness journey?
It was a split second decision for her to keep going, but it had a much greater impact on me. I hope it compels you to KEEP GOING on something today <3