My goggles were getting old, so I went to a sporting goods store to buy a new pair. I spent some time comparing the many different brands and styles and ended up purchasing two pairs.
The next morning, I took them to the pool with me. I got into the pool and tried on the blue goggles. They fit fine, weren’t too tight, and it was cool to see everything with a blue tint. The second I pushed off of the wall, the straps made a weird whooshing noise and it got more annoying while I was doing a flip turn. At the end of my first lap, I took them off and tried the other new pair instead. I pushed off of the wall and there was no whooshing sound. But like a race horse, I could only see what was directly in front of me. The strap adjuster blocked all peripheral vision. These weren’t going to work either.
Despite having imagined what the googles would be like in the water before buying them and despite having tried them on in the store and at home, I wasn’t able to tell how they would actually work until I used them in the intended environment. Only then did I have actual evidence for how they were good and how they were bad.
It’s like when we hear someone tell of their mistakes and we nod along, “Yes, I’m selfish too. Yes, I’ve done that. Yes, I’ve hurt people.” But unless we go back and really catalog the instances in when we were selfish, when we did that, when we hurt people, it’s like wearing swim goggles on land. You won’t truly experience it. And without seeing this all-important how, you won’t return a bad purchase, you won’t return your bad views. So take the time to use those goggles, take the time to dig into your history. Only then can the consequences be real enough for you to take action.
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