Why A Crooked Rug Drives Me Crazy..

It's Not Even About The Rug

There are a lot of serious problems in this world.

Bills.

Stress.

Health issues.

Relationships.

The state of the economy.

And yet, for reasons I still can't fully explain, one of the things that irritates me more than almost anything is a crooked rug.

I know.

It sounds ridiculous.

Trust me, I'm aware.

But hear me out.

You know those little rugs people put by the front door?

Or the mats in stores?

Or the welcome rugs that somehow end up folded over, twisted sideways, or bunched up into a shape that doesn't resemble a rug anymore?

What drives me crazy isn't necessarily that the rug got messed up.

It happens.

People trip.

Shopping carts hit things.

Kids run through the house like tiny tornadoes.

Life happens.

What gets me is when someone clearly sees it and just keeps walking.

You know they've seen it.

They looked directly at it.

Maybe they even caused it.

Yet somehow they step right over it and continue on with their day like the rug's problems are none of their concern.

And every single time I see that happen, I think to myself...

Really?

You couldn't take two seconds to fix it?

Not even a little nudge with your foot?

Now, on the surface, this article appears to be about rugs.

But if you've made it this far, you probably already know it isn't.

The rug is just the rug.

What bothers me is what the rug represents.

It's the little things.

It's the willingness to leave something slightly worse than you found it because fixing it would require a tiny amount of effort.

It's the idea that someone else will take care of it.

Someone else will fix it.

Someone else will deal with the inconvenience.

And maybe that's why it gets under my skin.

Because I've spent most of my life being the "someone else."

The person who picked things up.

The person who fixed things.

The person who handled the details nobody else wanted to deal with.

The person who straightened the rug.

And honestly, I think a lot of women can relate to that.

We notice things.

We carry things.

We manage things.

We fix things.

Sometimes without anyone ever realizing how much we're doing.

The funny part is that the older I get, the more I realize that life is full of crooked rugs.

Some are literal.

Some are not.

Sometimes it's an apology that needs made.

Sometimes it's a relationship that needs repaired.

Sometimes it's a task everyone keeps avoiding.

Sometimes it's simply doing the right thing when nobody is watching.

The rug just happens to be the thing that reminds me of all of it.

So yes.

A crooked rug still drives me crazy.

It probably always will.

But maybe that's because every time I see one, I'm reminded of something bigger.

Small acts matter.

Small efforts matter.

Small kindnesses matter.

And sometimes the easiest way to make the world a little better is to take two seconds, bend down, and straighten the rug.