What to Do When “Shit Happens”

When I was 16, I dropped out of high school and took a job on a dairy farm. My job title was “barn cleaner.” Basically, I shoveled cow crap until the barn was clean.

Shoveling and Spreading Crap

Every morning at 0800, I would show up at the barn, put on my rubber apron, gloves, and galoshes and begin shoveling the crap into a wheelbarrow. When the wheelbarrow was full, I would push it down to the end of the barn and dump it into a spreader. When the spreader was full, I would take it (hooked to a tractor) and its load of crap out to the designated field of the day and spread it there. When the spreader was empty, I would take it back to the barn and park it in its specified place and begin to fill the wheelbarrow again.

Money, Freedom, and Booze

I loved the financial freedom the job gave me. I earned enough money to keep me supplied with alcohol and cigarettes. I was in high heaven, but I was also getting into some trouble. Booze was not my friend. With the help of my family, I decided to join the United States Air Force and have never regretted my choice.

Shit Happens

In the early 80’s a saying became popular: “Shit happens.” It was on bumper stickers and tee-shirts everywhere. I took it as verbal shorthand for “Life sucks, then you die.” For some reason, every time I heard or read “Shit happens,” I would get frustrated, and I thought back to my first job — shoveling crap.

What I learned from that job became tremendously important to my life: Yes, shit happens, but what counts is what you do with it when shit does happen.

In the barn cleaning process, I could have been instructed to take the crap to a dung heap and stack it there. If that had been the case, maggots would have grown and stink would have happened. But by spreading it on the alfalfa fields, the alfalfa matured and it was covered with little purple flowers that smelled sweet.

Here’s my point: When crap happens to you, you can dung heap it or you can use it as fertilizer. If you dung heap it, maggots and stink will occur; if you fertilize it, flowers will grow.

I can show you how to use a spreader for your tractor (mind) to fertilize the crap and become more capable than you ever thought you would be.

Call me. Let’s talk: (541) 325-2118.