Remember to Look for the Good Stuff

I was on my knees – again – plucking nutgrass out of the lawn in preparation for mowing. For anyone not familiar with Texas lawns, nutgrass is about as plentiful and as welcome as fire ants. Growing up we called it “sticker burrs.” The only sure way to get rid of nutgrass without harsh chemicals is to pull the heads off before they go to seed then fertilize the lawn like crazy while planting real grass.

Anyway, I’m plucking away when I come across a little gem, just a wildflower that technically is also a weed but I can’t bear to destroy it. I left it there near a couple of its sisters.

While I continued working, my gaze kept flicking back to the small yellow flowers almost lost in the great expanse of green, and I realized it’s so easy to look at a piece of writing or artwork we’re editing and focus only on the problems. Those of us who are natural problem solvers have the worst time of it, but anyone who engages the “editorial mind” while viewing a work in progress is apt to see the flaws and overlook a gem of great prose or the masterful stroke that fills a painting with life.

As we move forward, let’s be gentle with ourselves. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the little things we’ve done that are really pretty great before beginning the seek-out-and-destroy process of dealing with problems.

It’s true that we often learn best from our mistakes, but that tiny gem in a lawn riddled with nutgrass deserved a little love and protection. Don’t our occasional triumphs, however small they might be, deserve similar acknowledgment?