Untangling Life's Knots

My Very First Metaphor

I'm gonna write a short reflection story about my very first metaphor. I was about 6 or 7 years old, and I had tied my shoelaces incorrectly on a pair of shoes, resulting in a pretty dirty knot. It looked difficult to undo, and I thought the only solution was to cut it with scissors. My dad caught me pre-cut, and stopped me immediately.

Firstly, because I would ruin the whole shoelace for one nasty knot and second, because he wanted to help me.

Not in the way I thought, so I handed over my shoes and he said, no, you're gonna do it. I bantered,"But daddy..." He wouldn't budge.

Basically he told me this: "Follow the string and work backwards...it'll work itself out."
Then I replied,"It's too tight and I made it worse..."

Then he told me that he won't always be there to help me, and that I need to learn to figure things out for myself- no matter how hard it seems. He told me he knew that I could do it, and to bring him the shoes when I was done.

**Time Elapses: I get frustrated, but keep focus on the strings, and bit by bit, the knot started to loosen and undo itself....

I happily bring my dad the shoes and say, "Daddy Look!" and he doesn't say a word; he just smiles.

:)

To this day, I can remember countless times that I've undone knots for people; from strings, to necklaces, to plastic bag knots, I've done it all- with their amazement- without following the initial urge to cut it out.

What I realized, in reflecting on that day, is that at that very moment, my dad taught me a simple life lesson.

We'll get ourselves into situations that seem difficult to get out of, but with persistence, and determination, we can work it out.

It is safe to say that today, I am
STILL untangling
life's knots.

:)