Sometimes you change something small, that has a much greater impact than you thought. I can’t think if a better example so quickly, but please bear with me anyway:
When I got my Bluetooth speaker, I didn’t put much thought into it. I just thought it would be a nice gadget to have.
On Sundays, we used to listen to the radio while we were eating breakfast. Then the radio became boring, and we would use the Pandora or iHeartRadio apps on the iPhone instead. We connected the iPhone with an audio cable to the boombox to enjoy the better sound. But the connector didn’t quite fit and so it always took a few minutes of fiddling with it to make it work.
Yes, these Sunday breakfasts were my only reason to get a Bluetooth speaker. I didn’t want to mess with the stupid cable anymore. Sure buying a new cable may have been cheaper, but I am glad we didn’t.
Thanks to Bluetooth there is no friction anymore. Because we have a speaker that is light and doesn’t require any cables, we suddenly listen to music much more frequently. I should say, constantly.
This new gadget made me realize again how important music is. There are not many other methods I can use to change my mood consciously.
And this one is effortless. And it is more than just that.
Having some music playing in the background also changes the attitude of a conversation entirely. With the right music, everything becomes lighter, easier.
As a teenager, I listened to music all the time. So many songs evoke specific memories and others time-warp me right back to my old self. Sometimes I can even remember a particular scent or taste.
I have lost that over the last good fifteen years because I stopped paying attention to music. I used music for the most part only to help me focus on my work by playing it on my headphones to cancel out other sounds. Music became my white noise.
Long story short. Getting the speaker had a much bigger impact than I thought, because it had a positive effect on my emotional state. Probably not every single day but often enough.
When we plan activities or consider purchases, we usually don’t think much about the emotional effect they have on us. Most things we buy, make us feel good for a short while and then they just exist. They may add some convenience, like a dishwasher, but they don’t put a smile on our face every time we use or think about them. And for sure they don’t help us create memories.
The speaker is a rare exception for an item because it supports an activity. Most things we buy are not like that. Usually, if you have the choice to purchase either a thing or an experience, you should always buy the experience, as its benefit last much longer by creating memories.
In fact, it doesn’t even matter if these are good or bad memories. When I look back, most of my worst experiences are my favorite stories to tell. Of course, that only works if you get through a bad experience without permanent damage.
And now I realize my writing took me in a different direction than I had planned. I wanted to write how this #600wordsdaily challenge has a bigger impact on me than I thought.
It is true, every time I publish my post, I have this feeling of accomplishment. And that although I don’t spend much time on writing. Not much accomplished, to be honest. This is quite weird. The other articles on my other websites sometimes take months to write and when I publish them, I usually feel bad because I am behind schedule. I believe it feels so good because with this challenge I don’t have to prove anything. I don’t have to please anyone nor will anyone other than myself benefit from it. The selfish act as an accomplishment.
[Day 3 | 680 words]