I lost a lot of tech/appliances last year: Off the top of my head I know that I replaced my phone, computer, tea kettle and stove.

The appliances I replaced went from working fine to not working…literally overnight…

Well…

Sort of…

After I cooked that first meal on my new stove, I realized how bad my old stove was. I recognized that the burners on the old stove were either way to high or way to low. I realized the oven didn’t cook things evenly and probably wasn’t even close to the correct temperature.

As time went on, the stove slowly began to show its age. I just didn’t notice it. I didn’t notice it because things were “good enough”. It got the job done. I just didn’t notice its inefficiencies.

I began to think of that as a little metaphor on life. How things appear fine, because you’ve just gotten used to them, adapted to the quirks. But down inside, they’re ready to break.

I took my stove for granted. I just assumed that it would continue to scramble my eggs and roast my meats because it always had…I never stopped to think how much it had given me.

So today, I want to think about the things in your life: your body, your relationships, your job, your hobbies, your blog, and I want you to think about how they are running. Are they still at 100% factory brand new? Or are they about to break due to overuse or lack of proper maintenance?

Are there areas of your life that could use some tweaking?

Are there things that you’ve carried around for far too long?

Are there things that are broken but you refuse to acknowledge it?

Are there things in your life that you should start over?

Try to take care of the things in your life that are important before they break. Not everything can be bought online and delivered in two days prime.

50 thoughts on “Out with the Old”

  1. It’s like living with growing kids. It takes a relative or friend who hasn’t seen the kid in a while to alert you how much they’ve grown. 🙂

    Something happened to me yesterday and today (connected) that has me re-evaluating what’s in front of me. Looking at a situation that seemed fine because I didn’t see the deterioration (or chose to ignore it) and coming to a realization. In some cases, you might chose to replace things because nurturing doesn’t prolong its life (appliances, tech). In other cases, you can look at something from a different perspective and see if you can inject life back into it (friendships, relationships).

    Sorry, I’m rambling. 😉

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  2. Oh, there are so many things [and people] I’m re-evaluating lately. If nothing else, being home all the time has given me the opportunity to think long and hard about what comes next in my life. And who I’ll include in that phase.

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  5. I think it’s fundamental that humans stick with whatever we’ve become accustomed to – until it absolutely stops working. We patch and mend and tweak and do everything possible to avoid having “break in” something new. Might be a new tech, or a new attitude, or a healthier habit. I’m not sure how to change that – at least in my life. Maybe others are better at it. I do try, though. Success is limited.

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  6. On the material things side – my son was home last night and mentioned the volume on our tv is messed up. We’ve gotten used to the occasional sound issues and don’t notice it. I, sure if we got a new tv we would notice. I have some obvious major changes I need to make once I’m vaccinated and life is somewhat normal again.

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  7. Very appropriate metaphor for life in general. Based on age, I wonder how a millennial would answer the question on ease of simply tossing and getting something new (material or otherwise) versus the perspective of us older folk. I ponder this because I see youngsters perhaps more eager/willing to change things up. Older generations maybe not so much??

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    1. One day those kids are not going to change things up. As we age, we tend to become a little more resistant to change. The trick is, what are the things we need to change versus what probably could stay the same. Always changing or always stating the same are bad. As always it’s finding the balance

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  8. Since my immediate family does not handle change well or at all, I am the one that looks to fix, repair or replace what has stopped working or was really not great to start with, to be honest. As my husband and I move into the next stage of our lives, it seems to be the willingness to adapt to the change that is the issue.

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  9. When I turned 50 (over a decade ago now) I started a big period of re-evaluation & change. While I don’t believe in change for change’s sake, I still regularly re-evaluate things in my life to see what may (or may not) be working. What’s been interesting in this lockdown period is that the scope for my re-evaluation has widened to include some more mundane aspects of life, not just the big issues. I’ve become interested in the why and how of what I do without thinking, and in what I choose to do. Interesting topic LA – is this going to be a subject you develop as is your wont? I hope so.

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  12. I was thinking what I want to improve in my life this morning. I used to take ballet and a stretch class when I was younger. I continued the stretch portion at home every morning before or after my walk. Then the ski accident and knee surgery and the stretching stopped a couple years ago. I’ve lost so much flexibility — not only in my body but my spirit. Time to incorporate stretching in my daily life — a little bit at a time. I know it will improve my outlook.

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  13. Are you in my head today! I am really struggling right now with a relationship more than an appliance, although both the toaster and the stove have issues. Some real soul searching going on here. Didn’t know you could feel it all the way across the country! Thanks.

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  17. I’m in the market for a new smart phone and it’s about time since it’s been several years with this one. But it never gave me trouble until recently and I had no desire to “upgrade” just because.

    As for the rest . . well, personally, I seem to have entered the “Guess What Ailment This Week” phase of life. This week, thus far, I have been ailment free. It’s the little things.

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      1. Yes, the teacher on medical leave returned and the Admin said, “I don’t have the extra monies for you, so that’s that.” I will spend time taking care of the husband and still with my part time online classes. No, I will use the option. Thanks for listening.

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  23. First, I have already made the decision that when I am finally able to do a total remodel on my mom’s house, i.e. when it becomes mine. I will definitely get a home warranty protection plan on most if not all of the new appliances and systems that will probably be installed then. I know not everyone has had a great experience with these plans, but I personally have and found in that experience the decision to repair or replace was taken out of my hands. Yeah!

    However, in advance of that glorious day, and just as an overall approach to my philosophy of life and sort of related to this type of very important decision-making, consider this post
    https://hbsuefred.com/2016/07/18/sometimes-good-enough-is-ok/

    For my final word on this post I must admit, in retrospect, that over time I really had taken my husband for granted, especially his handyman skills which I will sorely miss in this next phase of my life without him. I think it’s worth the trade-off though.

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