The Half-Full Glass Factory
I came across the perfect line to describe life on page 156 of Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit. The person is describing a hospital with a toxic work environment:
We called it the glass factory, because it felt like everything could crash down at any minute.
I realized, re-reading and re-reading that line, that the world is divided into people who see the whole universe as a glass factory and those who believe they’re working with something a little more durable. Like wood.
Actually, I think everyone rationally knows that life is a glass factory; that everything could come crashing down because nothing is permanent and certain. The difference is that some people always think about the figurative glass factory, and others can forget that life is a glass factory for big chunks of time and therefore take risks as if they’re working with something more durable. Like wood.
I am in that first category: I never forget the figurative glass factory. I think about the glass factory all the time. I assess all risk with the belief that if I don’t consider all possibilities that I’ll be surrounded by shards of glass. I’m just trying to do my part to keep things in one piece.
I don’t know if the cups in the figurative glass factory are half-full or half-empty. I just know that they sparkle all around me, reminding me of their shatterable quality.
5 comments
I read that book a few years ago (and loved it!) and totally missed that quote. I love the imagery you bring forth here. I’m with you, I think, knowing we’re in a glass factory, but (also like you) able many times to enjoy the exquisite beauty of being amid all that sparkle and twinkle and beautiful fragility.
Like Lori, I read that book a few years ago but missed that line. Perhaps I should go back and re-read it.
See…my analogy would be that the universe is made of something like…concrete?…and we’re all made of glass. Some people shatter, others just crack, and the lucky few just bounce around a little.
This may be the closest thing I’ve ever read to how I experience the world. Because it’s all glass to me too and I really struggle with trying to take risks or not envision a total explosion of broken glass.
Also will have to check out the book.
That image of the world as a glass factory is so stressful… I am always thinking about the things that could go wrong, and I see them in my mind, all these alternate possibilities that are terrible. But I don’t want to see everything as fragile and just waiting to shatter. I just watched the Brene Brown special on Netflix, and I really liked her thoughts on how people are always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it keeps you from taking risks and being vulnerable, and that seeing those possible outcomes and doing the thing anyway is truly courage. It was inspiring, and also made me hyperventilate a little. I like a’ s take on the world being concrete and people are glass, sort of the bend-don’t-break mentality. I think I have to go do some deep breathing now… 🙂