When the elevator’s broken, the stairs are still there. They always were.
CREATIVITY
WHAT THIS MEANS
When the easy route closes, the hard one has usually been standing there the whole time, open and ignored. Convenience has a way of hiding the alternative until you need it. That is worth remembering the next time something you were relying on breaks, because the breakdown rarely removes your options. It mostly removes the comfortable one and leaves you with the version that takes longer and still works.
Think about where you are stuck waiting for a door to open. A ride, a reply, a sign up sheet. Find the slower route this week and take it once, just to prove it exists.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
What slower route have you been ignoring while waiting?
MORE IN PARADOX, METAPHOR & FOOD FOR THOUGHT
- You don’t notice how heavy your keyring is until you empty your pockets. Same with the stuff you’ve been carrying.
- Sometimes the elevator goes down first to pick someone up before it goes up. Detours aren’t always delays.
- Backlit by the sun, a person turns into an outline. Ask questions before deciding somebody’s just a silhouette.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.