Little Things Can Ruin You.
There’s a stump on our beach.
It’s not much to look at, but it serves a pretty important purpose. It provides a little protection for some of the land behind it.
The problem is, the water doesn’t care about this stump.
The waves come in. The water changes. And little by little, the land around that stump gets battered and washed away, eating into the land behind it.
Not dramatically.
Just a tiny bit at a time.
And that’s what makes it dangerous.
Because if I do nothing, eventually the erosion will go deep enough around the stump that the water will simply go around it. And once that happens, it won’t just take the stump.
It will start taking the land behind it. Eventually all the way to the seawall.
So, I went down the river last week and filled my kayak with rocks I found and placed them all around the stump.
Nothing complicated. Nothing dramatic. Nothing you would notice unless you were standing right at the beach area where the stump is.
Just enough to slow the erosion and protect the area.
And now, as long as I pay attention to it, that little problem should be fine for a long time.
This little exercise got me thinking about how this is a simple example of how life works.
What are The Little Things in Your Life That are Slowly Eroding You?
Because the little things matter.
Maybe it’s something you’re allowing to hurt you physically.
Maybe it’s a small habit that you know isn’t helping your future health, but you keep telling yourself it’s no big deal.
Maybe it’s something emotional.
A resentment.
A relationship you know isn’t healthy.
A negative thought pattern you keep feeding.
Maybe it’s something slowly killing your dreams.
You keep putting something off.
You keep breaking promises to yourself.
You keep telling yourself you’ll get serious about it someday.
And none of it feels catastrophic.
That’s the insidious nature of the allowing the little things that hurt you to go unchecked.
The Little Things Rarely Feel Catastrophic While They’re Happening.
But they accumulate.
A little erosion here.
A little compromise there.
A little less effort.
A little more avoidance.
Until one day you look around and realize the thing you thought was insignificant has changed the landscape of your life.
The good news?
The Opposite is Also True.
If little things can ruin you, little things can make you.
One better choice today.
One healthier meal.
One walk.
One conversation you’ve been avoiding.
One promise kept to yourself.
One small action toward the dream.
One little rock placed around the stump.
You don’t always need a massive intervention.
Sometimes you just need to notice what’s happening and do something about it.
I know this deeply. I have built a life I never would have imagined through doing the little things consistently. The basics. The fundamentals. Nothing you would even notice much, until over time it becomes very noticeable.
So, take a look around your life.
What little thing are you allowing to slowly erode your health, your happiness, your relationships, your future, or your dreams?
And pick one right now to STOP.
Then, consider what little things you can begin doing that will put you on the path to create the life you want down the road?
And pick one now to START.
Because when you start taking care of the little things, something beautiful happens.
They stop being the things that ruin your life…
and start becoming the things that make it.
Here’s an excerpt from a live zoom where I talk about this.