So on my first day of work, my Habitat for Humanity leaders went around to everyone and asked what skills they had prior to coming on this trip because even though construction skills were not required, it was good to know what people had experience doing. When it got to my turn, I said I’ve used tools before but ultimately I was a construction novice. Well on day three of my trip, me and my lack of skills had to figure out how to do things real quick.
After two days on the painting crew, today I was told that new people would be painting and I would be doing something else. Ok, finally! I was going to get use tools or learn a new skill but either way, I was going to step out of my comfort zone, which is a major reason I came on this trip. Well, before I knew it, I found myself standing on the second layer of scaffolding with a hard hat on my head, tool belt around my waist with a nail gun in my hand and I couldn’t help but think that I had definitely launched myself way beyond the confines of my comfort zone and into a realm completely out of my league.
The nail gun was heavy and the loud sound it made when it fired was reminiscent of the
noises you hear during the shooting scenes in movies. After pulling the trigger and firing the first nail through the 2x4 to attach it to the side of the house, I immediately went to hand the intimidating tool back to the professional supervising my work. My theory was that I came, I saw, I did it and now someone who knew what they were doing can take over before I screw up someone’s home. My supervisor just started drawing marks on the wood where I would be putting the next set of nails and walked away to get more supplies.
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| Jealous of my work outfit?! |
Sending there alone on the metal platform, I had a slight moment of panic. Was this guy crazy? How could he leave me up here all alone? This was going to be someone’s home and what happens if I mess something up and it falls down? As the questions questioning my abilities swirled through my head, I raised the bulky, orange power tool and fired another nail through the board. And then I fired another one. And another one. With every nail I fired, the doubts in my head began to fade away until I hit a little snag.
The nails weren’t going into the board fully and a wave of panic began to rise in my stomach once again. I tried to hand hammer them in but it wasn’t working. Instead of continuing to try to correct my mistake, I put my tail between my legs and went looking for my supervisor. He came to take a look at what I had done and I just felt like such a moron! I honestly felt bad that this guy had gotten stuck with me for the day since I was such a construction idiot. After he took out his hammer and banged the nails into wood with hardly any effort, he turned to me with a smile and said, “No worries”.
No worries?! Was he kidding me? It’s actually a pretty typical thing to say in New Zealand because I’ve been hearing it everywhere. While I worked my way around the house, nailing 2x4 after 2x4 to the frame, I made some more mistakes but time and time again, they were met with the same familiar phrase, no worries. By the end of the day, I could safely say that I knew how to operate a nail gun and I had a new mantra. Sure in a few weeks, I’ll go back to the US and probably revert right back into my perfectionist ways but I would like to think that I will have a little more “no worries” in my life.
Most of the time our lives are complicated only because we make it that way. We let mistakes or problems get emotional which can cloud our normal, rational judgment. The truth is as simple as the old saying, mistakes happen. As I sit here and reflect on my day, I’m not thinking about the mistakes I made or things I did wrong but rather I’m reveling in the fact that I conquered something that I didn’t think I could do. As for the screw ups, all I have to say is “No Worries”.
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