THE PARABLE OF THE BUSTED iPHONE

About 6 months ago, I cracked the screen on my iPhone.

There was a starburst pattern in the upper corner and 

a large seam that bisected the screensaver photo 

of last year's first day of school.

You would maybe assume that I would take steps to repair

that screen or failing that, get a new phone.

I did not.

I had been living with my iPhone's idiosyncrasies

 for a long time so it was hard to notice one more nuisance.

Cracking the screen was just another quirk 

in a machine that was barely usable.

For instance, there wasn't enough storage to have photos and podcasts; 

I danced a constant shuffle between downloading and deleting.

For eighteen months, the camera on my phone was unpredictable-

sometimes it would work, 

sometimes it wouldn't, 

sometimes I could take hazy shots where everyone had a halo.

For two years, I was unable to google something unless connected

 to wifi- in spite of what the settings said.

I might be able to use maps for directions on a road trip...

or I might lose the destination and wind up pointed towards

my 2016 vacation spot.

The big seam that was running through the glass 

was just one more way that this expensive piece of modern life

 wasn't working for me.

As our family's IT representative, 

(my husband) takes a personal stake in this arena. 

The old phone wasn't cutting it for him at all.

He asked me repeatedly if I was ready for a new phone 

looked at me with consternation when I refused.

I had a lot of reasonable sounding responses.

We have financial goals right now that don't 

include a thousand dollars for a new phone.

It's fine, I can still text and call on it consistently.

I am not messing with that right now-I have too many other things to do.

I don't want to research my options, it feels overwhelming.

Maybe next month or when the kids go back to school 

or when I've had a good nap.

It's interesting what the final straw is in a situation

where I've learned to accept things that shouldn't be tolerated.

It's usually something small that has occurred a hundred times before.

This time, I went on a trip with both my kiddos 

and had to ask my friends to capture the precious moments
of us together or them playing around so I could keep them.
That was when I found my limit with the ridiculous contraption
that had been masquerading around as a smartphone.

Once I decided my patience was at an end, 

it was short work to end the reign of the poorly performing iPhone.

In the space of a few hours, 

I had two new phones (for free) and had no increased fees

on service.

In a few hours, almost two years of dysfunction was eliminated.

Not because I was better or smarter or prettier.

Not because I worked harder to prove that I could do hard things.

Because I decided that I wasn't going to put up with the ways that situation

 was making me twist into something unhealthy.

Because there was a simple answer

that was just lying around waiting for me to decide

that I am worth it.

This is a metaphor for a lot of other things in my life (and maybe yours too).

I can do hard things better than most.

So I am constantly doing the hard things-

or making things that should be easy and simple harder-

or putting up with bullshit that shouldn't be tolerated by anyone

 because I can still accomplish things in spite of the bullshit.
I have a thousand choices along the way to make it easier on myself
and I choose to keep doing it the hard way.

One more lesson I need to learn from the year of thriving.

When things are feeling hard, there's often a simple answer.

Leave what's heavy behind.

Some things have passed their window of usefulness and should be put down.

Some things never actually were useful but since they were given to me, 

I've dragged them along.

I have this tendency in every arena

and I have forever tries to keep loosening my grip.

I would love to hear what you over-complicate

or accept in your life because

you have to, are supposed to, or just don't realize is a burden

because you've built up muscles to carry it.

Here's a little music from Birdtalker to start your thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioMByL8KtBk