Life Lesson - Don't Baby Your Board

I have a habit of repeating myself on this blog, and I'm about to do it again.  Jeff's recent post about life goals and such made me remember two life lessons that I often reflect upon.  I'm sure I have more than two in my repertoire, but these two just popped into my head.

Life Lesson -  Don't Baby Your Board

I used to skateboard in high school.  I had just purchased and assembled a great new board.  I was afraid of messing up the cool graphics, so I installed all kinds of rails and such on it.  Side rails, nose skid, tail skid, etc.  These accessories made the board abnormally heavy and well... gay looking.  But the graphics were preserved.

Cut to me skating at the beach.  I skate near a group of skater punks who call me over.  They were pretty good.  One of them wants to look at my board, so I let him.  He says, "Dude, don't baby your board.  You'll skate much better without all this stuff."  I did and he was right.  It's only a skateboard and it can be replaced if I mess it up beyond recognition.  Why not actually USE IT while I can?  That was an epiphany for me.  And I have applied that statement to many areas of my life over the years.

Really use the things you own.  Use them for what they are.  Don't stress about scratches, dent, dings.  Don't put book covers on your books.  If you buy a motorcycle, go out and drive it.  Mess it up.  Don't keep it locked up and waxed in your garage.  Who benefits from that?

This lesson can be extended beyond the care of physical things.  Why not let the physical things themselves go?  Have you ever realized how great it feels when you get rid of stuff?  And I mean REALLY get rid of it.  I recently had to sift through all of my stuff due to recent home renovations.  I got rid of a lot of stuff.  Stuff that I thought I needed to keep.  Stuff that I hadn't laid eyes on for decades.  I didn't need it.  And it felt absolutely awesome to be rid of it.  The ultimate stress reliever.

Life becomes more enjoyable and carefree when you learn to let go and not baby your board.