A Lesson Beneath the Couch
It started with something simple. Or at least, I thought it would be. I was swapping out a 5x7 rug for an 8x10 in my living room. The smaller rug came out with ease and I remember thinking, well that was simple enough. I rolled out the new one and almost immediately paused.
Wow… this is big.
Really big.
And that’s when I realized I might have underestimated the situation just a little. The plan was to slide the rug under my heavy L-shaped sectional. Sounds easy enough, right?
Except the couch was one solid piece and I had no idea how to take it apart. And once that rug started going under… there was no easy turning back. So I did what I tend to do. I tried to figure it out on my own.
Little by little, I pushed and pulled and adjusted. I lifted what I could, inch by inch, trying to guide the rug into place. I stopped more than once, completely out of breath, wiping sweat from my forehead and wondering why I thought this was a good idea. Still, I kept going. Because surely… I could figure it out. Right?
At one point I reached out to my daughter, who seems to rearrange rugs in her home like it’s no big deal. I sent her a message that basically said, help… what is your method?
Her reply came back quickly. Lift one corner or section of the couch at a time and shimmy the rug under, or move the couch, lay the rug then scoot the couch back over. I actually laughed out loud. There is no way. Scoot or lift the couch? By myself? That was not happening.
After a few days of trying, I reached my limit. The rug was halfway under the couch and completely bunched up in the corner. I had done everything I could do alone. And that’s when I knew. It was time to ask for help.
My friend Kitty was stopping by to drop something off, and I casually mentioned, maybe she could help me with a quick project… no pressure.
I’m pretty sure she had no idea what she was walking into. When she saw the situation, we both stood there for a moment, taking it all in. Then we looked at each other and started to laugh.
What happened next was something I will never forget. Because the only way we could make this work was… creative.
I ended up laying on the floor while Kitty stood over straddling me, so she could lift both legs of the couch at the same time. I looked up at her and said, “Okay, ready… set… go.”
And then, for some reason, I started chanting. “Okay, okay, okay, okay…” as if I was pumping myself up. Over and over again. As I pushed and pulled the rug inch by inch underneath. It worked!
We repeated this process again in the corner of the couch, laughing harder each time. And then for some reason, I again began chanting, “okay, okay, okay,” over and over again as I pushed and tugged. I was sweating, she was lifting as she straddled over me, and somewhere in the middle of it all we were both laughing so hard I thought I might lose it completely.
It was ridiculous.
And hilarious.
And somehow… it worked.
When we finally stepped back, the rug was technically under the couch, but there was a huge lump hidden beneath it. We both looked at it and thought, there is no way this is going to lay flat. I got down on the floor of the open back side, reached under, gave it a gentle pull…And poof, just like that… It smoothed out. Perfectly. Like it had been waiting for that moment all along.
We were in disbelief. And then we laughed.
The kind of laughter that stays with you for days.
Looking back, I realized something. This was never really about the rug. It was about the way I tend to handle things. Trying to do it all myself. Pushing through when something feels hard. Believing I should be able to figure it out alone.
But the truth is…
Some things are simply not meant to be done alone. And sometimes, what feels like a struggle is just life gently nudging us to let someone in. I was so grateful Kitty showed up that day.
Grateful I asked.
Grateful we figured it out together.
And maybe most of all… grateful for the reminder. That strength doesn’t always look like doing it all yourself. Sometimes it looks like laughter on the floor, a friend by your side, and the willingness to say… I could use a little help here.
Because in the end, the rug found its place. And so did a lesson beneath the couch, that some things in life…were never meant to do alone.
xo, Sheryl
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