The Snowman Lesson…
It was a bright winter morning, and the neighborhood sidewalks were freshly covered in snow. As I stepped outside for my usual walk, something unusual caught my eye.
At the end of the street, a large pile of snow stood, awkwardly occupying the space where children’s laughter usually echoed. As I got closer, I saw the source of this strange sight: a snowman—or at least, what I assumed was meant to be one.
The children had spent hours building it, but the result was far from the cute, cheerful snowmen I remembered from my own childhood. The snowman was a lumpy mess, with mismatched sticks for arms and a crooked carrot for a nose. It lacked any real form or imagination. In fact, it looked more like an accident than a creation.
I stood there, baffled, watching people walk by, glancing at the oddity with mild confusion. A thought crossed my mind: How could they let this happen?
I considered knocking it over. It was an eyesore after all. But then something shifted inside me. Instead of focusing on the mess, I remembered the joy those kids must have felt while building it. They hadn’t set out to create a perfect snowman—they had been too busy having fun, laughing, and using their hands to shape the snow into whatever they imagined. To them, it wasn’t about creating something perfect; it was about the experience.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how easy it is to get caught up in perfectionism. I had judged their creation based on its appearance, forgetting the heart behind it—the time spent together, the creativity sparked by the cold winter day, and the simple pleasure of doing something just for the fun of it.
The next day, I passed by again, and there it was—still standing, still a mess of sticks and snow. But now, it didn’t seem so bad. In fact, it made me smile. It reminded me that life isn’t always about achieving perfection. Sometimes, the joy is in the process, not the outcome.
And so, I walked on, leaving the snowman exactly where it stood, appreciating the beauty in its imperfection.
Moral of the Story: Perfection isn’t always the goal. Sometimes, the process—the creativity, the fun, and the joy of making something—is what truly matters.