January 8th, 2020
When I was a kid, I didn’t know how to use a toothpick.
I thought you scraped the wooden sliver across the surface of the teeth that people could see. It was a job I thought my tongue could do acceptably well, but adults used toothpicks so, hey, it was probably something I needed to use, too.
When I got older, I figured out what toothpicks were actually for. In my spaces, things would get caught that were uncomfortable, or even painful. I used to try to wait them out, or use my finger, but I realized toothpicks were designed to dig in deep. To both acknowledge and confront my discomfort, and the accompanying agony, and to do something about it.
Just your daily reminder that even though you may be aware of the tools at your disposal, it doesn’t mean you’re using them right or even at all.
At the very least, the things you think are useless might not be, and the useful things you have might be even more so.
The Den 