Replace some Watts
Lady Scarlet
In crime-fighting, the "broken windows theory" holds that signs of vandalism and petty crime foster more crime and anti-social behavior; fix problems like broken windows, graffiti, or trash when they're small, and people will behave better and remain in their neighborhoods.
This theory is controversial, but whether or not it's true in a municipal context, I've been trying to apply it in my own home, by trying to do a better job of fixing small things right away.
Just yesterday, a light bulb burned out in my office. My instinct would be to put up with this for weeks, while half-heartedly reminding myself to replace the bulb, to little effect; instead, this morning, I marched myself over to the closet where we keep light-bulbs, grabbed one, and swapped them out.
This issue is familiar to me. In college, my roommate and I would joke about the fact that we were the kind of people who, when some very necessary light-bulb in the living room burned out, would just resignedly say to each other, "Oh, well, now we have to learn to live without that light-bulb." It took us forever to take care of those kinds of tasks.
This morning, I got a ridiculous sense of accomplishment from this small act. And now it's done, and won't consume any more precious mental energy.
I find that when the little things in my home are out of order, I feel restless, anxious, and overwhelmed. When I take care of the little things, I feel more ready to tackle the large things.
How about you? Do you find that taking care of seemingly inconsequential tasks makes you feel happier and calmer? Am I the only one who has this strange resistance to light-bulb replacement?
Comments
First ^ _^
Interesting. Voted.
as an inherent perfectionist, i feel the urge to see perfection around me. If i want my room to be dirty, i will make it so dirty that even cockroaches cannot survive in such hostile environment. Adjusting the volume bar on the music player with so much care and attention such that it stays at 25 and not one point below or above. This pattern makes me happy...hard-wired into my system...I will probably never change, so be it...as long as I am happy with what I am happy with. I have gotten used to looking at only the positive side of things and thus far, never felt real sadness from the moment that i have adapted myself this way. People term me different things, but i tend not to care...
"Oh, well, now we have to learn to live without that light-bulb." ~ you could save some watts without replacing that bulb, you know! Use CFL technology or rather stay in darkness, the world is facing an energy crisis... : P
Thanks av and tro.. @tro thats the idea behind this article to find happiness within little things.. Like adjusting the volume at certain level.. I used to do that when I was a kid,setting the volume to 5 or its multiple I dont know it just used to gave me some real pleasure.. So that's the whole idea.. Good to know that you live that way : ) lol and yes I better not replace those watts 😁 cheers
Yeah. Quite natural
^.^
@troj I still experience that volume thing : D
lol
@annihilator ~ yes even today, i do that! : )
lol a real late reply! 😐