Everyone knows bananas are good for us, but what about on our walls?
We painted our main living area yellow once. Yellow is a pretty good color…after all, a lot of good things in life are yellow—perky daffodils, the warm sun, creamy butter. Once the painters had finished, though, it looked like a banana on our walls. It was wrong for us in so many ways. We had just shelled out a bunch of money to get the house painted and it turned out awful.
Not only was it awful, but apparently yellow rooms are not recommended for main living areas because yellow stimulates feelings of frustration and anger—like we didn’t have enough of that already with our son Evan’s behavior challenges.
What do you do when a decision finally comes to fruition and it turns out to be a lemon—or as in my case, a banana? It’s hard enough to come to a decision in the first place and then take action on it. Sometimes those decisions cost money. Often they involve your energy or time, or both. The good thing is that most of the time you don’t have to be stuck with a decision you’re not happy with.
You change directions. You give yourself permission to rechart a new course, set different goals, shift your thinking, or start over. It’s in how you deal with the setbacks that will define your success. Don’t limit yourself by recalling unhappy choices of your past and don’t be afraid of the new potential outcome just because the first one didn’t work out so well. You have the power to change your mind. You get to decide what your life ultimately looks like—relationships, jobs, hobbies, and yes…even wall color.
Rather than living with a color disaster, we chose to repaint a shade of the color we had originally. We appreciate it more now because of what we had to go through to get it. Sometimes you never really know a successful decision unless you slip on a banana first.
Like what you’ve read so far? You can find more in my book, 52 Strategies for Life, Love & Work: Transforming Your Life One Week at a Time, available on Amazon this July!