Yes, I Wrote About my iRobot Roomba

What a cool experience this morning! Watching the dream become a reality was cool. Yes, it was rainy, cold, and breezy but people showed up and ran or walked the 5k in the Inaugural Shop with a Cop 5k Run. It was fun to walk with my brother, his girlfriend Christa, Dad, and a nice lady that was smoking us before the hills got to her. She had just had hip replacement surgery and was still walking faster than we were for the first mile and a half. This was her training walk before her 10k in January. It was great to see the Yodonis’ family effort pay off with an excellent group of people.

After the “race” we went and had a great breakfast to restore all those calories we lost on our excruciating exercise so early in the morning. That’s where the excitement ended and the idea for tonight’s blog started. You know the expression, “Watching paint dry”, well I did that today but with my iRobot Roomba. I got enthralled and realized that this silly robot that cleans my floors daily attacks the house much like I and others have attacked are own lives.

There was the noise signaling the beginning of the journey. Loud, fierce, and quick to begin. A quick change of direction and off it went. Sound familiar? We are determined we are going to do something and we have an initial burst of energy. After a couple of minutes, it was banging off the wall and spinning around the living room. Then, suddenly there was an alert. “Please spin the side wheels to adjust.” I did the mandated fix and off Roomba went again. Just like our own lives. We bounce around trying to find direction and then there are problems. We either stop or we get them fixed and move on. Roomba continued to work around but I noticed some other things that just reminded me that I have often looked like this silly robot.

After about 35 minutes it appeared it was cleaning in the same area over and over. Comfort in surroundings or loss of direction. This resonated with me in the terms of how we attack some of the things we say we want. We get comfortable doing the same thing over and over but not really knowing if it is moving us towards completion of our ultimate goal. We stay in a little corner of comfort and at times we try to get out, but we bump up against something and get turned back around. There are times we even get out of the spot only to be brought right back in by one wrong turn. Roomba seems to do this repetitively. I watched as the robot would attempt to leave the office area, bounce off something, and then, turn right around and head back into the corner of the little room.

After an hour, most of the house was clean and the small light of energy was showing it was time to start looking for home. There are times in our own lives that we are so close to completing the task, but we still must have enough energy to complete the goal. We wear ourselves down, bouncing off our proverbial walls, aiming to get to the finish line for that particular goal. As I watched Roomba attempt to get over the final carpet I found myself cheering for it to end. The excitement was welling up inside like it was my own goal. Then, it bounced off the carpet and turned around heading back towards the family room. All the way back to the family room and a few more bounces the damn thing was back in the office. Why not just go home, get your goal, and feed yourself the energy you need for the next task?

With the energy light brightly on red, the dock light flashing, and myself losing patience with this little time killing journey I started taking odds that Roomba was just going to die right here on the family room floor. It wouldn’t be the first time a goal went uncompleted. We all have those dreams and goals that fall short. Whether we lose our way, hit the wrong wall, take a different direction, or just like where we are there are times it just doesn’t work out. As I pondered the likely conclusion of a dead battery, cleaning out the pod, cleaning out the brushes, and then cussing Roomba for not getting the job done, the darned thing hit a wall, turned toward the kitchen, and aimed for the living room. Within two minutes the little vacuum that could was headed towards home base. Like many of the journeys we take throughout life, there are times it appears there is no hope and we are just going to fall a bit short, and then we make one move a bit more to the right or left and the direction becomes perfect. Roomba crawled closer and closer to the base sizing up the finish line and the energy it sorely needed. Just as it was about to hit home and achieve the goal it was stuck. Yes, it had made it to the finish line but couldn’t cross it. Sound familiar to life at all? After watching for about 30 seconds, probably more like about 5 seconds, I tapped it with my foot, and bingo, it was home. Completion, success, cheering all around. Just like us, we get so close but even when we can see the finish line we might need a bit more encouragement to finish what we started.

Yes, I wasted a lot of time watching a stupid robot clean my floors. Or did I? Seeing a goal achieved through progress made turn by turn and through a little bit of assistance by others is how we do things in our own lives. It really is funny though; this little robot runs around my house cleaning the floor, so I don’t have to, and I still judged how it was doing its job. So judgmental and it wasn’t even my battle. We need to fight our battles to completion, hit our obstacles head on, bounce off and readjust, and at times get a little assistance. The same people who are saying we can’t get it done will be the same people that cheer when the job get done. Do it your way but let people assist if they are willing.

Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash
Photo by Talgat Baizrahmanov on Unsplash
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