Does It Really Matter?

With the sailing date less than a year away, every decision is couched in the question "Does it really matter?" This is a wonderful question that without this trip, I never would have asked myself. It applies to all sorts of matters across the spectrum of life. The most recent example involves my car.

3 years ago, the speedometer in my car stopped working. I took the car to our mechanic and it would have cost $400 to fix (the entire dashboard was going to have to come out). I drove without the speedometer for about a month. I couldn't imagine plunking down $400 knowing that in just a few years I would be leaving on this trip. Does the speedo really matter? Yes, but there was another solution. I realized I could buy a car navigation system. For $150, I got a speedo + maps! Win Win!

4 months ago, the oil pressure gauge in my car stopped working. I love knowing that the oil pressure is working fine, but does it really matter? At this point I was a mere year away from selling my car and sailing around the world. No, it really doesn't matter. The car has never ever indicated it has a problem with oil pressure. The likelihood of it becoming a problem is very low. Heck, the first 3 cars I owned didn't have an oil pressure gauge, only an idiot light. So, no fixing the oil pressure gauge. I will keep the gauge fixing money in the bank.

Last week, my passenger headlight went out. Does this really matter? I thought about this carefully and critically. I could try and only drive during the day. But what happens if it rains? What happens if I really need to drive the car at night? This one does really matter. So this week, I will be getting the head light fixed.

Before this trip, I would have had everything fixed. I would have focused not on "Does it really matter?", but instead on maintaining a thing, not on the actual need.

Watch carefully ... you may find that you too have things that don't operate fully to their capability, but work just fine for your need. If it meets the need, then that is good enough.