Early this morning, I needed access to something online and I came across one of those image verification pictures. You know the ones--banks and other institutions imbed numbers and letters into a picture of swirls and dashes and all sorts of things.
For the record, I hate those things. I understand why they exist, and I even use it here at Little Nuances to keep comment spam to a minimum, but still, they get on my nerves.
The first code I was prompted to put into the box was nearly indecipherable. The background was dark gray and the letters were light green, so I took a guess. And got an error message.
Another code popped up.
"Is that an "I" or an 'l" or a "1"? I had no idea. I moved my laptop computer screen to get a better angle, but to no avail, so I took a guess and tried the "I." Another error message.
The third time around, I noticed that the background was lighter and the numbers were darker, and I could actually make out the code. Of course, this time I got a "maintenance" error, so I still couldn't get to the information I wanted, but it reminded me that life is often a process.
I try to do something and often fail. Then I try again and fail again. I re-evaluate, double-check what I'm doing, make adjustments, and plunge in again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I've noticed that the more I stick with something, the clearer it becomes--sort of like the way the background and code on the image verification picture became clearer as I went. Eventually it's clear enough to actually see.
Sometimes, even after all of that, I still get maintenance errors, and that's okay. I least I know that I've gotten as far as I'm supposed to, and that's a good place to be.
