Little Things Run Deep

My lime green water spray has been idle for over a year now.

Not for any lack of chores but simply the nozzle had decided to just stop working one day.

The water spray has only ever been filled with water, mostly used for ironing clothes and for a short time spraying my Tillandsia air plant, which sadly did not survive.

That was it. So it was a mystery to me why it had stopped working.

Eid dishes

During the long Eid holidays this year, I found myself with some idle time so I decided to give my water spray some long overdue attention. I thought I’d take a shot at fixing it instead of setting myself on a guilt trip for being a contributor to more plastic waste.

Agree, not the most popular or conventional way to spend the longest national holiday - but I digress.

Off I headed to Youtube for some How-to-fix advice. The video told me I had hope.

Hope for my water spray

It confidently explained that most nozzle problems only need three common approaches.

1. Soak the nozzle for 5 minutes in warm water and squeeze the nozzle a few times to free up whatever tiny particle that has blocked it.

2. If it doesn’t work use a toothpick to poke on the hole of the nozzle to help free up any blockage.

3. If it still doesn’t work pull out the plastic tube connector and check for any blockage.

Unlike my sister who is pretty good with her hands, the home fixer I am not.

However this recommended procedure sounded straightforward enough. I got this.

Or so I thought.

So I diligently followed the instructions.

Results

Niet. Zip. Nothing.

I tried again, trying to peek into every tiny corner of this not-so-technical piece of machinery.

Still, nothing.

Squeeze-squeeze, tug-tug, poke-poke. Nothing.

Wait 5 minutes the video said.

Waiting.

10 minutes now. I repeated procedure.

15 minutes. Tick, tok.

18 minutes. Tick, tok.

Nothing.

Let me rewatch the video.

Yup, that's exactly what I did already.

Okay, I need some rest after all that.

Resigned, I decided to let the whole nozzle soak in the bowl of warm water and left it. Maybe it will be behave better after it has some time to think about what it did. Hmmmph.

An hour later, and close to abandoning all hope, I took out the nozzle and mindlessly squeezed it a few times.

Hallelujah, brothers and sisters!!

Like the first cry of a newborn baby, it finally squirted out a spray of water, just like the first day I brought it home.

Glee.

I did not expect how a two-dollar, insignificant water spray could give me such a gleeful moment.

It was but just a simple domestic incident.

A small thing of little value.

But, really it wasn't. It wasn’t about how big or small. How useful or not. How time consuming or not.

It was about me - on my own, persisting and overcoming a hurdle. Myself.

When we acknowledge and collect all the wins of our day-to-day lives, even the smallest ones, we reinforce our sense of accomplishment, a more defined sense of self, build up our confidence and ultimately, our internal locus of control.

And that, is priceless growth.

I am reminded how our internal locus of control, which is the believe that you, as opposed to external conditions, have control over your own behaviour and outcomes of events in your life, can be a such as powerful and life-saving quality.

Self-care

We need to take better care of ourselves. Let us think not more highly of ourselves than we ought at the same time be gracious, fair and kind to self.

But by being conscious, we can build up a system that uses our daily experience & observations to nurture and care for our soul.

For in life, we never fail. We only win or learn.

And only by looking after our honest, healthy true-selves can we be even stronger pillars for others.

Even if we do it one small step at a time.

My revived water spray