The Clay in the Fridge – Overcoming 25 Years of Regret
When I was young, my parents bought me a box of multi-colored polymer clay. Sort of an “everything you need” set you can get for super cheap at the craft store. You know, something simple that you’re supposed to have fun with while making memories with your parents. Except I never made those memories because I never actually opened it…
Maybe it was the gift-like nature, but I saw the clay as a finite resource – something that once opened, I could never use again. Thinking that, when my parents went to open the box, I stopped them because I was too scared to play with it. It just seemed like something that needed to be preserved for some “perfect moment” some other time. So, per the instructions on the box, we put it in the freezer to be used later.
For close to 25 years, that box of clay sat in the back of the freezer. Just waiting for that perfect moment when we, as a family, could create fantastic memories. Waiting – long after I’d grown up. For all those years, whenever I’d see it there, all I’d feel was regret. Maybe more so than I should have – the kind of regret you’d hold onto late at night and sit there thinking about until the sun came up. Dark nights spent just thinking about how you’d trade almost anything to go back and get rid of that cold lump of clay now sitting in the back of your mind. Why couldn’t I just have taken the time to be happy then?
As I agonized through those sleepless nights, a lesson from that clay became increasingly clear to me: You don’t need to wait for things to be perfect. We’re used to hearing that throughout our lives we need to work and strive to do our best, to reach our goals, and to be perfect in order to avoid regrets. But even then, regrets can still sneak up on you. Sometimes it can feel like we can get so goal-oriented, so focused on what we need to do to feel successful, to reach those perceived perfect moments, that we can miss out on those little things that can make us truly happy.
But, even if it might feel like you’ve missed something, just know that sometimes, even after 25 years, you can still come back and find happiness. Much like molding clay, you are able to shape your own life and make our own happiness. You don’t need to wait for those perfect moments to arise – you just need to have the courage to make those long-remembered memories for yourself. Even if it takes a while, be sure to do the things that make you happy, the things that make you feel loved, and the things that make you love life. We all have so much potential. Be sure to work the clay. –DP
