Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.
UNKNOWN
As I have gotten older, I have learned to let go of some things that I saw were holding me back. You can call these ideas or prejudices or what have you. But like the monkey who has been trapped by the nut in the bottle, escape comes when you let it go. Holding on to the thing can only lead to your demise. Here are some of those things I had to let go.
1. One size fits all. (One size fits most.)
The first thing I let go was the idea of "one size fits all." This came when I had my watch dilemma. I always wore a Timex Ironman for everything until the thing was gummed up with so much grime that it was no longer functional. I made the switch to the Casio F91W which became my beater watch. It covered 80% of what I needed in a watch, but I bought a G-Shock as my fitness watch because it had a better light for walking at night and a countdown timer. I bought another metal bracelet style watch to be my dress watch. Today, I own four of these watches that I trade out depending upon my needs for that day. None of them are gummed up with grime.
The secret to my problem was "one size fits most." 80% is the most that you should ever expect from a solution. Beyond that 80% is the breeding ground for new problems. We live in the smartphone era where people carry around a one size fits all product in their pockets. These things are a camera, internet browser, music player, game machine, a telephone and a texting device. Naturally, all of that utility is lost when the device hits the concrete really hard or when the software becomes dated turning the device into a brick. This is why people are now slowly adding back old school dedicated devices they used before smartphones. One of the most popular is an old fashioned paper notebook.
2. All you can eat. (Pay as you go.)
The buffet restaurant is a popular thing because it promises satisfaction for one's gluttony. If you actually pay attention, the trick is getting people to pay more to eat the same amount or slightly more than they would have eaten at a regular restaurant. This now extends to something like the streaming subscription service which was how Netflix put Blockbuster out of business. For one monthly fee, you can have all you can watch. No one logs how much they are actually watching. They just want the option of unlimited choices. Unfortunately, the content is lousy, and you end up subscribing to additional services for their unlimited choices. The result is that people spend more on streaming today ($126 billion) than they did on Blockbuster ($5 billion.)
I had Netflix for awhile when you got DVDs in the mail. It beat having to return a movie to Blockbuster and pay those dreaded late fees. Then, I saw the dust covered Netflix video that had turned into a coaster on the coffee table that I was paying for each month. That was a very expensive coaster. The reality was that I was not very interested in the content offerings on Netflix, but I was still paying for the option to watch their unlimited crap. I returned that unwatched DVD and cancelled the service. This is because I found that it was cheaper for me to buy the DVDs of the movies I was actually watching than renting the lousy movies I could potentially watch. I pay as I go now. I think I buy one DVD per year because they only make one good movie per year now. Everything else is available for free on Tubi, Pluto, and YouTube.
Paying as you go requires a certain level of self-awareness which most people lack. When my wife convinced me to cut cable TV, she simply pointed out that I barely watched TV. I was paying for the option instead of what I was actually watching. Many other people figured it out, too.
Gluttony in all its forms is expensive and wasteful. The better way is to learn your limits and then pay only for what you consume instead of what you potentially can consume.
3. Buy it for life. (Buy it for a long time.)
There is a reddit forum called "Buy It For Life." Someone quipped that it should be called "Buy It For A Long Time." The reality is that virtually nothing you buy can be expected to last for your entire life. That is an unreasonable expectation, but I have found that you can buy stuff that lasts for a decade or longer. My 30 year old clock radio is one of those items. My 20 year old Walkman is another. I have lots of clothes that are now old enough to go to college. I can't say that I am not satisfied with those purchases.
With inflation, it has gotten harder to buy quality stuff as companies cheap out on what they are making. Yet, my current flip phone is now fixing to eclipse my previous flip phone in the longevity department. My phones have to be upgraded when the network upgrades. If it wasn't for that, I could keep a phone for decades with a few battery swaps. I can't say that I am not satisfied with those purchases.
One of the things I have discovered by accident is that the cheaper products actually last longer. My Amana washing machine is still going five years later. It might finish out the decade. People who bought the pricey Samsung washing machines are not as happy. I can say the same thing for our decade old Magic Chef microwave. I have found that buying basic stuff is the key to buying it for a long time.
4. You get what you pay for. (You get what you research.)
Many people try to skip the research by paying a bunch of money for stuff thinking that quality automatically comes with a higher price tag. I have fallen into that trap a few times, and I have learned my lesson. Before you buy something, read the reviews first on the internet. Know what you are buying. I have found that quality stuff only costs a bit more than the cheap crap version.
5. New and improved. (Not always.)
Another trap people fall into is thinking that the newer version of a product is automatically better than the older version. The reality is that new and improved means they found a new way to make it cheaper by compromising on quality and covering it up with a slick package and marketing hype. iPhone devotees are discovering this now as the new and improved version is not worth the additional money they will have to spend on it. A few software upgrades can remedy this by making older devices slower forcing the upgrade. It makes me glad to own a flip phone.
6. Older is better. (Not always.)
When people get disgusted with new and improved, they go hard in the other direction by trying to replace everything with an older analog version. This would be replacing your laptop with a manual typewriter. The problem with this approach is that I have no way of publishing from the typewriter to this blog without having to type it over again on a computer. The reality is the typewriter thing has become a fetish for LARPers wanting to pretend they are Mickey Spillane or something.
Older is sometimes better like a physical book or a notebook. Other times, it isn't like with vinyl records or a paper map. It pays to know when an improvement is an improvement and when it isn't. I recommend reading the The Mid-Tech Manifesto to get an idea of how to navigate the old vs. new thing.
Conclusion
These are the things I had to let go. My life is better for letting them go. I will probably have to let go of some other things before I am done with this life. I will keep you posted when they happen.