Fortune Cookie Friday: Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

I have a tall IKEA® bookcase in my office that is just the thing I needed to store all my books and supplies. I have a love-hate relationship with that wooden case. The white finish matches my desk but shows dust and dirt quickly. The case is big enough to hold all my things, but a bit too tall for little ol’ me to reach the top shelf. It also took longer than necessary to put together.

IKEA has a reputation for its furniture instructions. You practically need to be a NASA engineer to assemble their products. When I received my bookshelf, the first thing I did was look at the instructions and solicit help from my teenage son. I was the brains, and he was the brawn. What could go wrong?

We got right to work and followed each step, double checking our work before moving on. Things went swimmingly, and the unit was upright and in place before we knew it. We high-fived each other thinking we succeeded where others had failed. It was when I began to put in the pegs for the adjustable shelves that we realized we made an error. I knew it was too good to be true.

We both sighed and began the process of carefully disassembling the bookshelf. After putting that thing together twice, I am now a master at the assembly of the Hemnes tall bookcase. The construction of my new office bookcase was anything but easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I first heard the “easy peasy” meme in the Walt Disney film Meet the Robinsons (2007). I know it has been around a while but regardless of when and where the meme began, the notion that just because something is easy doesn’t mean it is innocuous. It might be easy peasy, but what about that poor lemon? Easy can lead to a sour situation for ourselves or others.

For Ourselves

We can get so caught up in the ease of many situations that we end up being careless at the same time. We can make mistakes when adding a large group of numbers and forget to carry one. We can forget to buy milk at the grocery store because we didn’t check items off the list or didn’t make one. We can also use up a whole day assembling simple every-day furniture because we didn’t pay close attention to the ridiculous pictorial instructions.

Easy mistakes can be more serious than forgetting to buy a loaf of bread. If you have been driving for many years like me, you might not find it that difficult. A simple drive can easily allow us to become too relaxed and end up a careless driver. Your route to school or work may feel so automatic that you zone out while driving. You know this happens when you find yourself not remembering driving part of your trip—and no substances are impairing your driving.

For Others

As much as we would like for things to be easy, anything that is too easy should be a warning sign. If we find ourselves zipping through the waters of life without much friction, we should occasionally look back and see what we left in our wake. That wake might not affect us, but others can be hindered or even harmed.

It may be easy for us to dribble a ball and make a basket, but we need to remember that we are on a team and we will have to pass the ball to other players from time to time. Just because something is easy for us doesn’t mean we should exclude others from participating.

The last thing we want to do is cause harm to someone else just because we didn’t want to put in any effort or take precautions. It’s easy to let our emotions take control of a situation but all too often we slip up and say or do something that we will regret. It may be harder to have self-control, but we are less likely to cause any turbulence if we do.

Let’s face facts; life isn’t easy. We are supposed to have our trials and tribulations, for it is through adversity that we grow. If we are lucky, we can perform our tasks, and things will go well. But we need to be cautious when things go too well. Let me put it this way. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If you find it easy peasy lemon squeezy, be sure to check for any seeds. Cheers!