I have this thing with leaving produce where it shouldn’t be: like when I went looking for a pen at the bottom of my purse during a meeting, and instead found a bag of liquefied baby carrots. Or when I went looking for my knife to go camping and found a banana peel that I left in my hiking backpack over the winter. I can be gross, I know. Judge me if you will.
My blood sugar drops quickly and without warning so I need to keep snacks with me at all times (in my purse, the car, my desk, the occasional hoodie). I also try to eat fairly healthy so I keep fruits or veggies on hand so I don’t grab chips or candy.
I’ve been driving my friend’s Jeep since my car accident in January. My car was totaled and he’s been so very incredibly generous to allow me to drive his, I am forever in his debt. I’ve tried keeping it clean, but frankly, that is just not one of my God-given gifts. (Do you see where this is going already?)
So one day we got into the Jeep to head out to dinner and here’s how the conversation played out:
Him: It smells a little funny in here.
Me: Yeah, it’s been like that for awhile. I kind of just accepted it and ignored it.
Him: Did you leave any food in the Jeep?
Me: No. I never leave food in here. You know, I didn’t want to say anything, but it’s been smelling kind of funky in here since you left your work shirt in the back seat.
Him: How badly do you think I smell?
When we pulled back into the garage a few hours later, he pushed the seats forward and started looking for the root of the stink. He pulled out an opened box of crackers. So much for my “not leaving food in the car” argument. But it wasn’t the cause of the stench so he kept searching.
And then he found them… rotting blueberries (thank you Ziploc it could’ve been a lot worse). I tossed the bag into the trash and whistled my way into the house.
I’m not telling you this story because I’m proud of my ickiness. I’m sharing it with you because I drove around for weeks with an awful stink in my car (and I drive a lot) because instead of investigating the cause of something unpleasant and looking for a way to correct it, I just ignored it and went on with my life.
My friend calls it “toler-hating.” Those things that you don’t like, that you actually can’t stand, but you put up with them because it’s easier than doing any work to fix them.
What are you toler-hating right now? Do you come home from work every day with a splitting stress headache, but hey, it’s money? Are you with a partner that makes your skin crawl, but you’re too afraid to be alone? Do you have to turn off the living room light in order to run the blender so you don’t blow a fuse, but don’t want to be bothered with looking for a better place to live?
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