Please Clean Up Your Sh*t

I work at a mental health urgent care facility as a Clinician.  I work with people who are not quite at the 5150 level where they’re a danger to themselves or to others, but that being said, we do get our share of challenges.  Some a lot more 'interesting' than others.  This one, however, had a lesson in store for me that I wasn’t prepared for.

A client had just come to the facility and was waiting to get cleared to come in (waiting for a Covid test results).  When I first checked in with him I could tell that he had a lot going on, but he seemed that he’d be fine for a few minutes waiting outside, and I’d thoroughly explained the procedure to him.  About five minutes later I see him knocking  on the door - and he’s in a completely different set of clothes.  When I opened the door he immediately began apologizing, “I’m so sorry man, but I had to go!” “I’ll clean it up” “Also, I’m really thirsty, can I please have a glass of water?”.  As I was processing everything he was saying to me I noticed that he’d shit right in front of the bench he was sitting on.  I was slightly shocked, and I didn’t want to make things any worse as I knew he was struggling, so I circled back with him around his offer to clean it up, and he said he would.  And he did, all while still apologizing.

As gross as it may sound, all I could think of was how many times we, as individuals, shit in someone else’s space, metaphorically speaking.  And when we do, we don’t always clean it up.  So it festers, and becomes more, for lack of a better term, shitty.

All we have to do is clean up our own shit.  Sometimes that means an apology, some listening or just a conversation - but that’s the hard part.  Most people, in my experience, tend to leave their shit all over the place (Including myself) and don’t clean it up.  They just forget about it and keep it moving, consciously unaware of the stench left behind, or the stale air they carry with them.

Like the time you were late picking up a friend.  Or forgot about an engagement.  Or made plans but had to cancel.  Or reacted to a situation in haste as opposed to responding with thought out purpose and intent.  We’ve all done it - and we’ll all continue to do it.  It’s part of the human experience.

The glue that holds it all together, however, is humility, the desire to grow and the pursuit of happiness and inner peace.  How else can you have inner peace if you don’t clean up your shit?  You can’t.

The good part is that the clean up is never as bad as we think it’s going to be.  The aforementioned gentleman was able to clean up his mess in minutes, and we were able to move forward with providing him assistance and support.  In all honesty, we would have assisted him even if he didn’t clean up his mess.  But, in cleaning up his mess, he demonstrated the most important step in making amends.  Take accountability, offer solutions and keep it moving.  But please, clean up your shit, and I’ll try and do the same.