Taking on the wrong tasks

Hello,

Do you ever take on the wrong tasks? I do because I like to say yes. Someone from church asked me to cut material that is to be made into bags that go on walkers. I figured that should not be a hard job and I could do it.

I promptly received two bags of material. One only had two pieces of cloth with the size instructions included. I did talk to the person who had asked me to do this and learned that she made a pattern out of newspaper. By the way you should know that I am not a sewing person. I did that pattern and with a certain amount of difficulty got the job done. My scissors is good, but the height of my tables is not good for my back which got tired rather quickly. Also the pieces of material were big and difficult to control on my small table. Tension probably contributed to that back sensation as I grumbled in my head, “I do not like to do this.”

It would have been much better for me if I had not been alone. In other words I needed a mentor even for this seemingly simple task. The job was finally done and I sent it on. When looking in the second bag my heart sank because it had a lot more material in it along with different size instructions. The person who originally asked me to do this also loaned me a sample bag. The new size was smaller and I did not know what to do about that so I stuck this bag in the closet and almost forgot about it when not looking in the closet.

This morning I thought I must get this out of my house and mind. The original person who had asked was in Boston on vacation. Sigh. I did not know the other woman who had sent me the bags of material. The introvert in me does not like to call people I do not know, but I gathered courage and made the call.

There I learned that I was now cutting bags that are for children to give to grandparents in hospice situations. This new woman had thought that I had a board and a wheel to make the cutting much easier. She told me, “It is too hard to do all this with a paper pattern and a scissors. Give it back and someone else will do it.”

Even though a little bit of guilt is rolling around my brain, the relief is stronger. I am happy to get this out of my house where it caused a bit of anxiety each time I saw it. Just one phone call made sooner would have averted all of this negative in my life.

Life is a continually journey of learning.

Paula