Taking Advice

Martha Stewart Living

If you have ever been through a job interview you have been asked the question, "How well do you take criticism?"...  My answer, because I wanted said job would be, "I take it well."

What I should have said was, "I kinda snarl a little and my eyes look like I'm trying to burn a hole in your head, but I'll hold my tongue.  Then once I've cooled down, yes I did take it as an insult to my perfection, I will evaluate whether or not it was true and if it really is a problem I might have.  By the end of the day it could go either way."  Yeah, I definitely would not have been employed if that were my answer but it is definitely more honest than the first.

Well, now that I am a stay at home mom and hang out with other mom's I am inundated with advice and criticism.  "Well maybe you should ____." or "You need to stop ______." and so on.  I try to not burn holes in their heads and I definitely hold my tongue!  ("a soft answer turneth away rath." Prov 15:1)   And truth be told I do take a lot of their advice, some of it really hurts when it first comes out but in the end it did help.  By golie I'm growing as a person!

Now, what about asking for criticism AND advice on a subject I'm already self-conscience about? Do you think I've grown THAT MUCH?  Am I ready to put pride and opinion aside to just listen and do? Is anyone willing to do that?!

In the coming months I will be taking a private session on how to clean and keep my house clean.  Just let that sink in... A professional cleaner will come to my house, point out flaws, dirty spots that I've had a blind eye to, and tell my how to re-organize my house! Even thinking about it brings to mind getting spankings as a kid.  Hold the counter and hope they are not going to get you on the leg.

But just like spankings for a foolish child, I need this.  I WANT a clean house.  I WANT to know how to clean and KEEP my house clean so that my self-conscientiousness goes away.  I WILL know that my house is clean & smells like geranium and not dog butt.  I am looking forward to the outcome which smells pretty nice. :)   

P.S.
I do want to note that I have tried to accomplish this goal on my own.  I have two cleaning how-to books to prove it!  Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook and Mrs. Meyers Clean Home