This past weekend, my husband Jay and I took care of something that had been on our to-do list since the beginning of April. We had been dreading this task for weeks…because it felt hard. Really. Really. Hard.
Our task was to sell one of our vehicles on Craigslist, something neither one of us had done before. The car needed a bit of work, so we thought, “Who would want to take care of all of that? Who would want to buy this car?” We considered doing the repairs ourselves, and then selling the car. But, what if someone still didn’t want the car? Then we’d have the car and be out the money for the repairs. It felt like we were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
We stayed in this state of indecision for several weeks, until finally the hassle of moving our third vehicle several times a day felt like a bigger hassle than selling the car. We decided to list the car “as is” and be very up-front about the needed repairs. We’d drop the price enough to cover the repairs and then just see what happened.
And guess what happened? Within three hours of listing the car on Craigslist, we had a happy buyer driving it home! Three hours! We couldn’t believe how easy it was. We were elated. For a few minutes anyway. See, after the elation settled my next thought was, “Oh no! We must have sold it for too little!”
Have you ever done this? Have you ever believed a project was going to be hard only to discover it was much easier than you expected? And then, did you go so far as to think if it was easy that you must have done something wrong? If so, then know you’re in good company!
I’ve had many people in my life tell me, “It’s supposed to be easy.” And yet, “easy” often feels wrong. As Jay pointed out on Saturday night, isn’t it funny how we feel we must be doing something wrong when something is easy? When, in fact, the opposite is true! When it’s easy, it means you’re on the right path! Easy is good.
The young man who drove away with our car on Saturday left me with a terrific gift. He reminded me that it’s okay if it’s easy. In fact, it’s supposed to be easy. Thank you, young man. I hope you enjoy your new ride.
Is there something in your life right now that feels hard? Why not give yourself permission to let it be easy…and just see what happens? You may just surprise yourself.
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Great post, Aby! I am certainly one of those folks who can overthink my decisions, and thus, make life more ‘hard’. Thanks for the reminder that a mental shift can be all that’s needed. Congratulations on the sale of your car!
I love this reflection. I am always surprised and pleased when something turns out to be easy. And I think to myself in a giddy sort of way….”that was just too easy!” It’s intriguing to think that more of life could be that way, happening with ease.
Thanks for this post! I also overthink and procrastinate. A couple of the things I recently found easy, and which I had delayed for longer that I care to admit [I mean years]: overseeding my lawn; and cleaning a spill from my car upholstery. They were way easier than I expected and I do feel good.
I totally understand – we actually just went through the same thing with a 3rd vehicle. We had purchased it from my son (as is – we had some work to do before selling!) prior to him moving to Hawaii and I truly thought we might just break even on re-selling it. I thought my husband had over-priced it and we’d have to just keep coming down on the price. Well, after patiently showing it to half a dozen people, the right buyer came along and paid almost our asking price!! The best part is, the vehicle was a blessing for the family who bought it. Win-win.
Great post and congrats on selling the car.
I love love love this! I hope that seeing it in print will help it stick in my mind. Too often I deliberately make things harder than they need to be.
I had the exact same thing happen this last weekend. I had a bed I needed to sell on Craigslist and I kept putting it off for reasons that I thought would make it hard to sell (it is a different size from another country, the frame was a little wobbly, etc. etc.). Well, I finally just had to list it so I could set up my son’s new bed and within half an hour I had two enquiries and the bed was gone an hour or two after that. Best part? The bed actually came from the country of the person who bought it and they were so excited to have it! So funny.
Thank you so much for sharing this! Its great to hear that there are others out there like me. I often become paralyzed and always turn to the what-ifs and negatives of a situation. Great reminder here that things can be easy just take that first step and see what happens!
It is nice to know that others have the same struggles in life as we do! I’m glad you sold your car! Good job! It is amazing what we can do when we just sit down and do it and not make it bigger than it is. As I wait to do things, they become so huge I never get to them. Congratulations!
I have fallen in that, ‘oh it’s too hard’ trap too many times. I am becoming aware that I talk myself out of getting things done. I started to time myself while doing dreaded tasks and found that many only take a minute or two, when I thought they would take fifteen minutes or more.