digitalBush

We've gone soft. It feels like the entire country has. Gone are the days of the "workin' man". Now we just have a sense of entitlement. Gone are the craftsmen. Now we purchase goods made of cheap materials assembled by non-skilled workers overseas. Gone are those who are self sufficient. Now we depend on the media to tell us who we should be.

I'm so frustrated with the current state of mind within this country. People think they deserve more while having to do less. It's time to take back your sense of being, get up off your lazy asses and do something productive. Fix something. Build anything. Heck, go outside and plant a tree. Just do something worthwhile.

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but there is this thing called the Internet. Here you can find way more than videos of kittens and farm games to waste your life. You now have at your fingertips the ability to find out anything you ever wanted to know about any subject. How to build a deck, how to change the oil on your car or even how to fix your air conditioner; it's all there for the taking. With the advent of high bandwidth, many times you can find a video to help you along. This means you can become proficient in almost any topic within hours.

There are several reasons I enjoy doing my own work:

I get the kind of work that I'm happy to live with. Almost every time I've hired someone to do work for me, I end up disappointed. I often find myself wasting effort to have it re-done or just finishing up the loose ends myself. When I do things for myself, I know exactly what I'm getting. If the results aren't perfect enough, I'll do it again. If it turns out really terrible (hasn't happened yet), then I can always hire someone to finish up.

I can have things that I wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. The house we moved into had some issues with the duct work. With approximately $200 worth of materials I was able to repair, seal, and insulate my duct work. For another $400 I had a guy come out and clean that duct work. There were a few ducts that I had issues getting to, so I paid the duct cleaning guys to replace those for an additional $200. The cost to pay someone to do that for me would be a few thousand, and I still would have had to pay to clean the supply and return trunks. If I wanted to scrap it all and start over, it would have cost approximately $4,000. That's money I just don't have laying around.

I can learn new skills. This continuous stream of knowledge compounds what you can do. Skills acquired working on one project might be useful on another project later. If you learn how to solder then you can repair damaged wires, replace a capacitor in your TV or put together an electronic project. At the very least, you may learn something that will keep you from getting taken advantage of. There are some jobs I won't do, but I'll at least know the terminology and be able to speak intelligently with the people I hire. Knowing a little about the subject will let you know if the work estimates are reasonable.

I push my limits. Many times I start out a job with a good bit of uncertainty. These are the things I've never done before and haven't done anything even remotely similar. Sometimes there are phobias adding to the uncertainty. I'm not fond of heights, so patching my roof was a scary proposition. I'm terrified of getting stuck in confined spaces, so squeezing myself into the back corner of my crawlspace really freaked me out. Regardless, each time I successfully do something that I was initially worried about, I feel empowered. That confidence will help you do a little bigger job next time.

I'm not saying you need to take on every project around your house. I feel like we all need to be more responsible for the things we own. Take care of your home, your vehicle and all the things paid good money for. Buy good tools and put them to use. Do something to reduce your dependence on other people. You'll have a new respect for things around you.