Each year, CEEK celebrates the successes of the prior year by doing something fun together as a team. This year, we tried our best at the Escape room which is an adventure game in which your group is locked in a room together and must use elements of the room to solve puzzles in order to escape within an hour. We entered the room ready and well equipped to escape. I mean, we’re smart people, right? About ten minutes in, we solved our first clue. We had 50 minutes left to escape and I thought, “We’ve got this!” Wow, was I wrong. Often, the clues were right in front of us yet we couldn’t see them. Literally, they were staring us in the face and we continuously overlooked them. And when we finally did see them, we felt silly that it took so long.

This made me think about how often we might be missing what is right in front of us in our daily lives. I reflected on my day and realized how often I missed a clue here and there or just simply missed a nice opportunity. By bringing awareness to what is in front of me, I was able to notice a fairly new client wasn’t acting herself and could ask her about it. This clue had been in front of me for weeks and I consistently overlooked it. I told my client she didn’t seem herself and wondered if there was anything I could do to support her. This could’ve been a missed opportunity to further our relationship and provide the support my clients have come to expect from me…a trusted partnership.

At home, I was beginning to make dinner while also making a quick snack for my youngest son. While I was trying my best to remember the dinner recipe while also putting peanut butter on a plate with an apple for my son, my mind was racing with thoughts from my fairly hectic day which I knew would continue until tomorrow. It wasn’t until my youngest yelled, “MOM” did I realize he had been talking to me the entire time and I didn’t hear any of the conversation. To this day, I wonder what I missed or what message I gave him by not listening to him. While I did feel incredibly bad for this missed opportunity, I vowed to see what was in front of me from that day forward, especially where my children are concerned.

Whether you call these blind spots or missed opportunities, what is clear is they are often right in front of you but you must be open and ready to see them. I challenge you to resist the urge to jump to problem solving. Take in your surroundings, be open to seeing more today than you did yesterday and CEEK a Better Way®.