Your barn door is open

I am going to be real honest with you right now.

I am going to share an experience that most would not care to admit, let alone share on a public platform, but here I am living on the edge.

I had to run to the marts of Wal for work a few weeks back.

I love how I always say run when we all know darn well you go in and are lost in an abyss of endless lines and no cashiers.

I said I was going to be real.

Let me start over.

So, I went to the marts of Wal a few weeks back and between being stuck in endless lines because there are absolutely no checkers and not finding what I needed right away and being ignored by just about every employee with a “How May I Help You” vest, I realized something.

My zipper was down.

Now I had been in there a long time.

I had been up and down those aisles and I had sashayed to candy aisle for a quick treat.

Just a happy little camper with her underwear shouting from my black dress pants.

Typically, this wouldn’t matter.

I tend to wear shirts long enough to cover said area, but that day … no.

THAT day I not only had a shorter shirt on, but I had neon pink underwear on.

Neon. Pink.

The kind of pink that BLARES out of your black pants.

I quickly calculated all of the imaginary people that surely saw my zipper gapping open and laughed at me.

Exactly 100 people.

Okay, exaggeration but it felt real.

Now the entire point of this entire story is to share with you HOW I realized my zipper was down.

A nice elderly lady approached me slowly and leaned in to my ear

“I just wanted you to know that your barn door is wide open dear.”

Initially I laughed until I realized she was speaking pure truth.

I juggled the few items in my hands and pulled my “barn door” closed before thanking her profusely.  

“No worries my dear, “she said “We have to look out for one another in this world even when it’s uncomfortable.”

What a simple statement.

What a simple yet impactful statement.

We often have to have hard conversations in the financial world.

Sometimes those conversations are of the delicate nature.

Sometimes the member’s “barn door” is open and we need to be ready and willing to help close it.

Now don’t go zipping up people’s pants and claim that I told you to do that.

I mean that would be hilarious, but I am guessing HR would not find it quite as amusing.

What I want you to do is start learning how to bring comfort to the uncomfortable.

To bring an exhale to a stressful inhale.

To let those members in front of you struggling know that you have been there and that you know how hard this is.

We have to look out for one another, even when it is uncomfortable.

Even when our voice shakes.

Even when you shop with your neon pink underwear saying a silent HELLO to every other shopper.

Even when you need to be told to shut your barn door in public.

We need to help one another, even when it’s uncomfortable.