The great thing about learning is that it is not confined to certain times or a specific location. Learning can happen anytime, anywhere.
I like to highlight this fact by, once a month, looking at things we encounter on a daily basis and seeing what important lesson we can from them.
In today’s installment of “Five Things We Can Learn From Everyday Objects” we are going to talk dirty. Very dirty….
5 Things We Can Learn From Cleaning Our Bathroom
1. We Don’t Find What We Aren’t Looking For
I’ll gladly vacuum and I’m more than happy to do the dishes, but cleaning the bathroom is my least favorite household chore. That being said, I do a decent job at keeping my bathroom clean…or else that is what I thought.
The other day, I finally decided it was time to clean the bathroom. Prior to cleaning, if you would have asked me how dirty it was on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the inside of a bottle of Purell and 1 being the inside of a fish), I probably would have given it a 7 or 8. I was way off. It was more like a 2 or 3. There was gunk around my sink, grime under my toilet and even layer of filth underneath my hand soap.
I never really noticed that stuff before because I was not looking for it. Deep down I knew my bathroom was dirty, but I thought that maybe if I looked the other way it wouldn’t seem so bad. It is amazing what we can see if we just take the time to look.
2. It Can Be Easier To Do A Little At A Time
All said and done, it probably took 45 minutes to clean up my bathroom. My bathroom is small so I didn’t plan for it to take that long, but as I stated above, it needed a lot of work. As I also mentioned above, I don’t like to clean my bathroom. And I really don’t like to spend 45 minutes doing it.
It would have been much easier to clean a little at a time. Wiping the sink here, scrubbing the toilet there. Had I been doing any of that at all over the previous month, I wouldn’t have had to endure 45 minutes of pain.
3. Some Things Take Extra Work (Scrubbing)
I don’t want to get too graphic, but some parts of the bathroom took more work than others. You know the spots. The ones that are so heavily caked on with grime, that you wonder if you’ll just have to accept it as the new color of the toilet. You think they will never get clean.
It is not impossible to clean those spots, but they take a little extra elbow grease. The same can be said about many other types of work we face.
4. Our Biggest Strength Can Be Our Biggest Weakness
Did you know that the bathroom sink might just contain more germs than the toilet? It is true. One study found that the level of bacteria found on the sink tops even the toilet. Doesn’t seem right that the worst place we can put our hands is the same place we need to go to clean our hands.
Sometimes the things that are the best for us, can also be filled with hidden dangers, if we aren’t careful.
5. Success Doesn’t Last Forever
I was very proud of myself for cleaning my bathroom. I kinda felt like I deserved an award (maybe a golden plunger). But my success won’t last long. The bathroom is getting dirtier and dirtier as I type. Success may not last long. We are only as good as our last pass. Just ask Peyton Manning, who was benched in the same game that he set the NFL record for most career passing yards.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
