I’m in the process of putting in a new microwave in my house. Somehow or another the handle of my other one came off and the paint started peeling off of my last one. It has been in pretty bad shape for a long time, but I never seemed to find the time to take it down and replace it with the new one we bought some 5 months ago (It’s one of those over the stove ones). It also made it easy to put off the job because despite its decrepit appearance the microwave seemed to still work pretty well.
Well I took down the microwave only to find out that I have to make three new holes in the kitchen cabinet above my stove to install it because the new microwave attachments lie in different locations than my other one even though they’re from the same manufacturer!! How retarded! And I don’t have the tool necessary to make one of the necessary holes, the one for the power chord. So, since I need to get the proper attachment to my drill to make the hole, I have failed to finish the project. And for the time being we are without a microwave. And that soooooo sucks… and at the same time it doesn’t.
On the one hand, it has become a pain to defrost frozen meats that normally would be thawed in under 20 minutes. We’ve had to thaw what we’ve needed to cook by removing it from the freezer and letting it sit in the fridge over the course of the day. Popcorn for our stay home movies has been a no go, especially since we only have microwaveable popcorn. The baby (and the boys also) has had to settle for cold milk as opposed to warm milk before bed time. And those quick meals that we made when we were in a hurry just haven’t happened. We’ve made a lot of sandwiches over the last week or so. One would figure this would move me into action, right?
Yeah, but I’ve also discovered something else. Something I had forgotten since we got our microwave. Despite the convenience of “fast food” at home, I have found that food has actually been tasting better when we’ve used the alternative of actually cooking it! I hadn’t boiled a hot dog in years. I’d microwave it for 45 seconds and I’d have meself a snack (yes, I spelled it that way on purpose… was watching SpongeBob, and I’d been listening to Mr. Krabs speak. Just felt like writing it in that way). Without the microwave though I’ve been boiling the dogs. Wow! I’d forgotten how much a microwave can steal the flavor from a dog, and it also seems to suck the juices out of it too. We’ve had to make the kids’ chicken nuggets in the toaster oven. Now they come out crispy and juicy as opposed to soft and soggy. And the meats we defrost thaw so much more evenly that they make the food easier to cook. Man, talk about the price for convenience.
It’s as that old saying goes: Good things come to those who wait. The truth is, though, that we have been programmed to get everything instantly. Instant gratification is what we aim for, and we don’t know or understand that there is another better option out there for us sometimes if we just show a little patience. We need get rich quick schemes. We need to buy things now, even when we can’t afford them. We try those quick weight loss programs so that we can see quick results only to wind up worse than what we were before. The quick fix has been the answer now for years. And we probably wouldn’t go for it if we could see and appreciate the alternative more readily. I only was able to enjoy the “taste” of what I was missing when I was forced to (it seems that for once procrastination has done me a bit of good). Maybe if we could learn to step back a bit more often and do things the hard way and see the better results, then we would go ahead and make the sacrifices necessary to improve our lives and our lifestyles. But those steps are often too hard for us. Adequate results make us feel “good enough” to overlook the possibility of good or great results. We then justify it by saying that we saved time that allowed us to do something else. (Usually that something else winds up being a waste of time itself, which adds to the irony of the whole thing)
I think that we can all take the opportunity to look around us and see what are the things that we rush to get through in life. Then we must see if there is a sacrifice we can make than will lead us to more desirable results, ones that leave a better taste in our mouths than the ones we currently have. Interestingly enough, my dishwasher also broke a few months ago. I used to procrastinate in loading and unloading the dishwasher, and then I’d complain when I couldn’t fill the darned thing with all the dirty dishes. Well, after having to do the dishes manually for a couple of months, I realized the importance of doing things in the now. Now I find myself working more often, but spending a lot less time in front of the sink at the same time. (Again procrastination here taught me a lesson… maybe I should procrastinate more often) So here I was again trying to buy time and doing things the short way (by not loading the dishwasher as things dirtied) only to realize that if I just changed my habits a bit things would have better results for me. And a happy me, means a happier everybody else around me.
So wait… on the one hand I’m preaching patience, yet on the other I’m saying get to work so that we won’t have to work more later? Actually, if you read carefully, it’s all the same message. If we want the results we want we need to take the necessary steps regardless of how unpleasant they may seem at the moment. If I want really good tasting food, I will take the necessary steps and sidestep the microwave. If I want minimal work with the dishes I will unload and unload the darned machine without letting the dishes pile up. If I want to make money tomorrow, I need to work hard today. And if I want to stay in shape, I need to exercise every day and not starve myself when I go above my goal weight. A little work now will give me the results I need later. I guess this is a little variation of something that Dave Ramsey says: If you live like no one else, you will be able to live like no one else. Ramsey says this with respect to saving money so that you can have money. But I think this transcends to ALL aspects of life.
Today I am going to finish installing my microwave God willing. Recognizing that food is better without it doesn’t remove it’s convenience when you are in a rush. It’s simply my job to remember the lesson learned and plan ahead when I want things done right. The microwave is not what prevented me from eating good tasting food. It was my misuse of it. Now, it’s on me to make sure I use it correctly. It’s on me to learn to plan ahead and make the hard decisions that will help me lead an easier life.