It is funny how things workout and sometimes don’t workout in life. A few years ago, I participated in a hackathon, it was a very interesting experience amplified by the front-center seat that I have taken. The experience primarily taught me one thing: no plan survives contact with a customer ( my version of the famous ). The same idea is applicable to many situations, mainly because planning and reality tend to diverge at least at one point.
So here, I’m 8 years after purchasing my “ultimate” speaker and the speaker is no longer with me, I sold it a few days back. Why am I thinking about it? For one, I have been a bit philosophical lately – life does not stand still, everything changes, customer’s mind moves on and ultimately nothing remains the same. Another reason is sunk cost bias – I spent time and money looking for the “ultimate” speaker and it didn’t make it past 8 years with me… I feel like there should be some kind of thought consolidation, lesson learned, so here I am.
Why did I part ways? Simply because I didn’t use it. In the last 4 years, I turned on the speaker probably less than a dozen times. My life has changed, I have a child, I live in a house and music time switched from late evenings to early mornings when I sit quietly and work on things. Playing music loud is out of the question and over the last few years I stopped enjoying loud music – aging is no fun. Since priorities have changed and the speaker was collecting dust, it was an appropriate time to make a decision: to cling to the past or to let go and move forward, I chose the latter.
Leaving things behind is not an easy thing (at least for me). I get attached to certain things, I let them define me in part. However, leaving things behind is a part of life – which needs to be examined, learned and practiced. Like any exercise it has its benefits – clearing mind, space and allowing for new things/experiences to flow in.
Well, it is time to say thank you for the experience and bring joy to the new owners, bye SoundCube.