When Were You Potty Trained?

I don’t have children, but my adult friends once were children, and every one of them is potty trained. I know that’s a strange thing to say, but I say it because I can guarantee that every one of us who is potty trained didn’t all learn on the exact same date or the same age or thanks to the same method of training. When we as children were ready, we just stopped pooping in our pants and chose to become big girls and boys and use the toilet! And that’s the point.

What I’ve come to realize is that this potty training analogy holds true for pretty much everything in life. Don’t believe me? Let’s test this out:

• Riding a bike: Sure your dad ran alongside you and cheered you on with “Pedal, pedal faster! You can do it!” But not until something inside you sparked saying, “I got this” did you take off riding into the sunset on your own.

• Your significant other: True, you may have flirted or been chased by someone wanting your heart. But not until something inside you whispered, “Say ‘yes’” did you put a ring on it and commit to forever.

 

• Starting your own business: Scary, I know. And so many times when punching the clock to further somebody else’s business, you dreamed of being your own boss. But not until something inside you screams, “Jerry Maguire!!” do you jump.

In every single season of life, we are presented with opportunities. When we are ready, we see them and move forward. When we aren’t, those opportunities may still be out there, but they’re invisible to us. Even if we do by chance get a glimpse, there’s one thing standing in our way: ourselves. We aren’t ready.

Taking this full circle, sometimes, we are the ones who are ready, but our partners or employers or kids are not. To expect them to deliver when they aren’t capable is futile. They are still in the “shit in my diaper” phase, and you can get down in the dirt with ’em, trying to force a flush. But usually you just end up with shit all around you. And that ain’t pretty.

Buddhist proverbs say it much better: “When the student is ready, the master appears.” I’m finally understanding fully the meaning. It just took a bit of shit and some time to seek out the potty.