Working In Another Person's Shoes

Over the weekend, my husband and I re-insulated our attic.

You might imagine that we hired people to do it, but we didn't.

My husband is a do-it-yourselfer.
He finds joy and takes great pride in doing most things himself.

Having never been in our attic, myself, I was a bit naive, but went with it.

I could barely get dressed this morning.

Between hauling the 18 rolls of insulation up to the attic, then crawling on all fours for hours, over 2 days, my body doesn't know what hit it.

We had to flip over the old insulation which was improperly installed, and then put the new insulation on top, cutting it to fit.

We also spent a good chunk of time cleaning up the dirt, birds nests, and other debris that had been stored up there for the last 50 years. (If anyone wants some mustard yellow 70s style tiles, I have some for you.)

By the time we finished yesterday at lunch, I had a lot more empathy and compassion for anyone who does manual labor full-time.

It made me wonder if it's something that we should all do from time to time -take a day or two, to work in another's shoes.

👉 Would the CEO making millions see the world differently if he was the one slaughtering the beef to make the hamburgers?

👉 Would the restaurant owner have more empathy for the dishwasher, if he spent 12 hours in that steamy mess?

👉 Would the politician, sitting in their pristine, opulently furnished office, see retirement age changes differently after crawling around in a dirty attic for two days?

What's a job that we should all do, in order to increase our levels of empathy and compassion?

Originally posted on LinkedIn with comments.

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