As I was shoveling snow this past weekend, I was reminded of how much easier it is to go out and clean off 1-2 inches of freshly fallen snow, than to wait until later to deal with it. If I wait, not only does more snow accumulate, but there’s also the chance that it will get packed down, making the work just that much more difficult in the future—something I’ve experienced more times than I can count.
When I was younger, I used to wonder why my older neighbor seemed to always be out cleaning off his driveway as soon as there was the least bit of snow. At the time, I though it was a waste—why not just wait until everything’s fallen, and then just do it all at once? But since then, I’ve come to better understand why he did it. It’s way easier to deal with the snowfall when it’s fresh and manageable, than to wait, and hope it doesn’t get worse.
In some ways, the same thing is true in life. We might be tempted to wait to deal with issues that pop up, but waiting usually doesn’t make them go away. Often, they just get more difficult with time. So although it can be inconvenient to step out and deal with the issue now—just like it can be annoying to leave a warm house to shovel snow in the cold—doing so can actually make things easier in the long run.