Sewage

When I was about seven years old I fell into a sewer. Really. I was hopping out of our 1985 Chevy Suburban, miscalculated my step, and fell into a ditch containing raw sewage. Was it smelly? Yes.

In Guatemala, where we lived at the time, they ran their sewage through ditches on the sides of the road. Generally, you’d step over the sewage or take little bridges. I missed those opportunities.

The rest of my day was gone. My parents loaded me in the back on some newspapers, drove me home, and hosed me down for the next few hours. I’m still waiting, 20 years later, to see what super powers I’ll develop. Nothing yet.

That’s because falling in sewage doesn’t give you super powers. It gives you a crappy day. It ruins things.

I’ve been flashing back to that moment lately. I’ve found myself wading through sewage again. It’s not literal sewage this time. No, it’s negativity. It feels like the same ick and stink I remember from 20 years ago. Today I sat down to create something meaningful. Instead I needed to hose myself off for a few hours and get rid of the stink.

Negative thoughts, conversations, people – it’s like wading through sewage. Nothing good comes from it. And it will ruin your ability to create anything valuable.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to avoid negative situations. I have no business being around negativity. If bad company corrupts good character, I have no business being near the stuff. I’m going to avoid it like I (now) avoid ditches filled with sewage.

I encourage you to do the same.

Be gracious. Be loving. You don’t have to push people away who are bummed out or down in the dumps. But if negativity is a regular part of everything they do, avoid them like a ditch full of sewage.

[Photo Credit]