Doing What Works

I am a therapist who works with mind, body and soul. So of course I’m into healthy eating.  I exercise. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Isn’t that it? Revamp…revision…something like that.

So when I started hearing a lot about eco friendly/body friendly nail polish…yes, that’s right, I seem to be discussing nail polish…free from all of the usual hideous suspects, of course, I was on board. So! I ordered this great stuff, got it sent from the States (no, I’m not saying which brand) and when it arrived, I cleared my schedule (okay I definitely didn’t clear my schedule). I stayed up late, and did my nails. I woke up feeling gorgeous (well, my hands did) and smug (that bit was my ego). And all of about twenty minutes later, after showering, my beautiful, formaldehyde and toluene free varnish, were chipped. Quite a bit.

When I say chipped, I mean, worked at a car wash all weekend long, decided to do some DIY and then scrub the bathroom without gloves, chipped. So…chipped. I tried again a few days later. Same hot mess.

So I went sans polish. I was close to throwing it all away when I decided to do some more research on this particular brand. Guess what? Without the base coat, followed by the colour, and the top coat - it won’t stay on. Now everyone who does their nails knows this process, but for those of use who don’t enjoy manis, we often engage in a bit of fast DIY. Maybe using the topcoat if we’re bored.

So. I tried again. With the whole three step process advised. And guess what? For love nor money can I get this stuff off. Its ON. Its not moving. My hands are incredibly happy and want to move to Italy so they can wave about even more than they do naturally.

So. What’s the point of all this cosmetic contemplation? Well… Its occurred to me that I tried something new, something I thought would be better for me, and it didn’t work. So I tried again. I tried it again after almost giving up and going back to what was known and what was easiest for me - what worked.

And at the last moment, after I did some homework and realised I had been unaware of a crucial part of the process. I had overlooked something. I had a blind spot. And if I hadn’t persisted, if I hadn’t realigned myself and found out what I was committed to, I would be wearing the same great looking, bad for my breathing and my body, stuff that I’d always used. Looks great, long term damage. How many things can we say that about? How many things look great, or sound great, or maybe they aren’t even great- maybe they are just okay. Maybe they seem to work. But over time, they definitely don’t add to your life.

Maybe they limit us. Maybe they impact us negatively. Maybe they hurt us. Or keep us isolated or alone. Or even slowly kill us. How many times are we taken with making a healthy change, be it our diets, exercise regimes, or relationships, only to have it simply, NOT WORK. Wouldn’t it be great if every diet worked? Or if every self help book, changed everything? It would be something.

But that doesn’t always happen. Indeed it doesn’t often happen. And some might say, it very rarely happens. When something new and challenging doesn’t work right away, or works for a time and then stops working, you know what we do? Usually? We do nothing. We slide back into our old ways. You know why? Because they work. That’s why we did it in the first place. That’s how every habit gets started. It is how every defence is born. We do what works. What saves us. What helps us out of a tight spot. What makes us feel better in the moment.

The only problem is, we do it even when we become more discriminating. We do it even when we realise that the game has changed, that the players have changed, that we have changed. We just keep doing what worked that first time. That is how we keep doing what works (on some level), long after it has stopped working on all the levels that over time begin to count.

So…Whether you are being asked to change your nail polish or your way of life, It might be time to examine what you are really committed to. And what really works. Because everything else is just a house of cards, bound to collapse sometime. We can do the work before the crash, or we can do it after. But chances are, we’re gonna do it. So which way really works? You choose.

Ps. when that nail polish was finished, I tried something new called a manicurist…even better!