Is the Grass Really Greener on the Other Side?

While Michael is out trying to make the most of his birthday, Ray Ebersole is stepping in with today’s guest blog post.

We have all heard the saying that the grass always looks greener on the other side. But is it really? Have you found yourself wanting to move on at a job, a marriage or out of a home? I know I have, so why is it when we are presented with the opportunity do we see all these great things and none of the weeds?

There is the natural instinct to want what others have and to think that what we have isn’t as good as it could be. We want that little extra, and while looking through those rose colored glasses it looks like the grass is greener, the benefits are better, the money is better or the time off is better than what we currently have. If we take off those tinted glasses and use our common sense intelligence we might see something totally different.

I had an opportunity earlier this year to move to another school to help it progress to a better situation. I volunteered because I was bored where I currently was. I had moved that school to a place where it was running smoothly. It had a perfect inventory two years in a row and the staff was happy with the state of the technology.

When I said I would move to this other school I only took a cursory look at its situation looking through my skewed vantage point that this was a challenge. I thought I could easily move it forward to a place where I currently was with my school at the time. That assumption was a mistake, as I found out the new school was in worse shape than I was led to believe or that I had seen with my biased glance at the situation.

After a few months I was not happy, I wanted to go back to my old school but I couldn’t. As time has went on though I have made the best of the situation and I have moved forward at a slower pace. I have made progress, not the progress I wanted, but progress nonetheless. The grass had weeds; it was overgrown and dire need of a completely new landscaping. I am working with some good people, we are going to make this new school better than it ever has and I am going to be the gardener.

Interestingly, the other day I found out that the person that had taken my place at the other school has resigned to go back to his previous job overseas. So, is the grass greener on the other side? Should I try to go back? This is the situation I find myself in today. The questions already have an answer for me: “NO.”

The reasons are that the grass I knew when I left has changed in the last 7 months. It’s not close to what I left it and I know it has weeds and needs landscaping. I have looked at it with no blinders on and I know that I have planted some good seeds where I am and need to see them grow. I can’t plant and leave. I know that you can’t go back to stay, you can only go back to visit. Ever been back to your childhood home? Looks different doesn’t it? Same thing with anything else, it will always be different than you remembered it.

Before you make a decision on moving to the greener grass on the other side, take a real look at your own grass. What landscaping can you do to it to make it grow, to give you new challenges, to make it fresh again? While the other side might have green grass, is it really better than what you have? I’ll bet that whatever the condition of your grass it can be landscaped whatever way you want it if you make the effort.

Ray Ebersole is a network technology support professional in the education field. He is also a fan of good reading, sci-fi, the Internet, and fun.