For those who know me well this is perhaps the most Gabe predicament I’ve ever disclosed…
Sometimes when I’m on a long trip and the conversation has died down, my phone has nothing left for me and there’s no more snacks, I just sit there. I stare out the window. Just thinking. Just seeing what comes up.
Sometimes I get an itch. An actual itch. Maybe on the back of my neck or on my elbow.
So what do I do?
I see how long I can go without scratching it.
Sure I could just scratch the itch and everything would be fine, and there’s certainly no prize for holding out on the scratch. But why not play a little game?
Here’s what I’ve found…There’s an arc to the itchiness. I notice the itch. I decide not to scratch. It intensifies. It calls out to me. I refuse. It burns. I will not show weakness. It reaches its peak. I almost give into this most trivial of obstacles. It goes away. And I’m back to being a guy staring out a window.
The only itches that didn’t go away by themselves are the ones I scratched before they went away.
Moral of the story: Until you stare out the window you’ll never know what will come up when you do.
