My son loves legos so for every birthday, xmas and just because he gets a lego set.  These are not the legos from my childhood in primary colors and 6 basic shapes only!  You need an engineering degree for some of these sets.  Worse they have 8,763 pieces. 8,762 screws up the entire thing.

Last Christmas, I laid all the pieces to 47 sets out because I refused to buy anymore and the complaint was they were all messed up.  I pulled out the schematic and looked for the pieces to the set and viola made 23 full sets!

It took a tremendous amount of time and energy.   It also created some bonding on the floor, as each person walking into the house saw the “crazy Larina project”  Some would sit down and started sorting as we talked.  Of course some walked in and said “HOLY SHI^ you’re nuts” and stared in a state of paralysis to what seemed to them either mission impossible or mission stupid.

Those pieces represented times in my life. The instruction manuals are there.  The mental fortitude it takes to dump all that internal crap out onto the floor and sort it out seems impossible.

Those legos taught me a few things.  It taught me don’t ever do that again because now there are at least 23 sets and he’s moved onto dragons and castles!  It taught me that we have an unbelievable iron will when we make a choice.

Lastly it taught me 23 sets was good enough!  It was time to pack it all back and let him have 24 sets of creative fun.  Ironically he only uses the box of mix matches.

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” Aaron Outward

Sometimes when life falls to pieces it’s time to dig in and do what we can.  Then it’s time to get over it and move on.  Stop talking about it.  Stop thinking about it.  Let the box be messy, as it often is.  It was a reminder that having the courage to look at that mess, and the wisdom to walk away when enough work was done, is really the sweet spot in life.

This is a lesson I use in business every day.  Control what you can and tackle things most people are too overwhelmed to address.  Then move on.  Know when it’s time to refocus on what is ahead, let go of the past and move on!

“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know noting about” – Wolf Pack.