I workout in the mornings before work, and since I don't think my co-workers would appreciate the smell, I utilize the shower at the gym.
A few months ago though, there was a problem.
The shower curtain.
It would "fly" in at you while you were using the shower - and when the stall is small - it gets real annoying real fast. But more importantly, two of the rings of the inside curtain were ripped, causing it to hang partially down and increase the attack on your legs. All of us in the locker room would complain about it to each other, wondering when the gym would fix the problem. Then one day something occurred to me...what if they don't even know it's a problem? How would they even know if no one has bothered to tell them?
That day I scribbled down a quick note in the communication log. The next day there was a new shower curtain. One that you didn't have to constantly ward off while you were trying to rid yourself of the stink and sweat. The gym staff wasn't aware of the problem. They needed someone on the other side of the curtain.
And that got me thinking...we all need people on the other side of the curtain.
In my job I'm constantly trying to put myself "on the other side" - to be a person using our website for the first time, or the 20th time, instead of a person who is a creator of it. I can remember what it was like to be on the other side of that shower curtain, but I'm not there anymore. And I can't go back. I will always have a slightly biased opinion. We constantly strive to improve our website, but we couldn't accomplish it without having people on the other side.
But even in our personal lives we need those people to keep us grounded. To be outside of our situations to call us to the truth we are too close to see for ourselves. Someone to let us know when the curtain is ripped and attacking innocent people.
Do you have people on the other side of the curtain? If not, find someone you can trust to be truthful. Sometimes it hurts to hear what they have to say, but in the end, the balance it brings and the person you become makes it worth it.
No one wants to be that ripped curtain.
3 comments:
Great post. Seriously. So true! :)
Its like that person that says you don't look good in those, don't buy that...right?
Good thinking.
GCC needs stools in the downstairs bathrooms. My kids always have to go while waiting for the classrooms to open. It's so hard for them to wash their hands w/ out a stool. One stall w/ a little toilet would be good too. =)
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