Paper Cuts Suck

No one likes being wronged; no one. It’s not something that just started yesterday or after we were able to drink (legally), it’s something that’s been a part of us since we were kids. Some of us handle it better than others but none of us like it. When my little brother used to hit me, no matter how much or how little it hurt, I always had to hit him back. Even today, when he playfully hits me, I have to hit him back. I can’t let him get away with one. It’s human nature to want to get to the last lick. The problem with this is when this overwhelming desire to “get the last lick” or “get even” consumes us, supersedes good judgment and reason, and overtakes us.

This attempt to get even doesn’t just apply to playful fighting among siblings. It also happens in our lives when people cross us. When your significant other cheats, or when your co-worker throws you under the bus, or when our friend/family member steals from you. We’re so enraged, so focused on the pain of what happened that we can’t see the forest for the trees or anything else for that matter.

Yes it hurts, but so do paper cuts. So treat them just like paper cuts. Curse under your breath, clean up the blood, put a band-aid on it and move on. Sitting there thinking about the paper cut, how much it hurts, how angry you are that you have it doesn’t make the pain or the cut go away so why dwell? You thinking and lamenting about it doesn’t hurt the paper, it only hurts you, because the time you could have spent focusing on the task at hand you’re channeling towards a paper cut.

When you work in an office and you handle thousands of sheets of paper over the course of a week or a month, paper cuts are inevitable perhaps unavoidable. When you deal with people, human beings, flawed creatures that we are, it’s inevitable that you’ll get hurt at some point or another. So what’s the solution? To avoid paper cuts, wear gloves to work, grease your hands with Vaseline, or just quit. To avoid dealing with people you’d have to quit your job, get a divorce/break up, ditch your kids, board up your house and never leave again. And you’d have to win Powerball to make all of this even somewhat possible. Since the chances of you becoming an instant millionaire are slim to none and you don’t want to be that weirdo at work with gloves and Vaseline, you have to deal.

Instead of dwelling on what was and what could have been, focus on where you are now, where you want to go and how to get there. Focus on how this happened and what you can do differently next time, short of something that will result in jail time or you becoming a recluse, to help avoid the next paper cut. Every bit of adversity that we encounter, every hurdle that we see, every wall that we face is a teaching moment. It’s an opportunity to grow and become better versions of ourselves than we were before the adversity occurred. At the end of the day we can never be Barack Obama, Dr. King or Beyonce’. We can strive to mimic their hustle, drive, and determination, but we will never be them. The only person we can be is who we are and since we’re stuck with ourselves we may as well be the best version of ourselves that we can be. The shiny, new HD, top of the line, fully loaded version of ourselves!

I’m working everyday towards getting there and so should you. In the mean time and in between time, try to stay away from the sharp corners of those documents. Stay Up and Stay Blessed.