"I'm sorry. That won't work." To which I responded, "Okay, well, I guess
I'll just try something else." But then I stopped. Stopped, and instead
of backing down or walking away, decided to figure out why it wouldn't
work, and how I could change that. And not ten minutes later, the
problem was solved, and what had not worked was working.
It doesn't much matter what it was that didn't work. It doesn't even
matter that much why it didn't work. During the course of today, in a
rather mundane situation, I was reminded that "No" doesn't always have
to be an answer that makes us walk away. "It doesn't work" doesn't
always have to be a response that makes us give up. "You can't" doesn't
always have to be a statement that makes us feel we failed. Sometimes,
in both the mundane and the not-so-mundane parts of life, our response
can be "I'll get to the bottom of this," "That can't be," or "Let's try
another way."
Today, in a situation that itself doesn't matter all that much, I looked
for a better answer than "I'm sorry, no," and I got it. Would that we
could all go after that better answer a lot more often...
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