“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”~Dr. Wayne Dyer
Just like me, a lot of my friends will dip a toe in the water, but stay out of the pool. In this case I am talking about the digital pool.
Computerized gadgets are flooding the landscape faster than a cashier can run a credit card through a swipe machine. Unlike the millennials and their offspring, who were born into a computer-dominated society with a digital age mentality, many baby boomers and our predecessors play an ongoing game of catch-up and keep-up. And we are hung-up in a constantly rotating cycle of technological changes.
I dislike change. I realize that change is an inevitable fact of life, but that doesn’t make change my friend. I don’t even like to change my mind. But – my aversion to change does not mean that I don’t enjoy a challenge, even when that challenge involves change. My most recent challenge involved a significant change of habit for me. Grab a cup of coffee and let me tell you about it.
During my lifetime — I have acquired enough hardcover and paperback books to start my own public library. Although I have given away hundreds of books over the years, the shelves of my floor-to-ceiling bookcases are still crammed to capacity. In addition, I have boxes of books in the closets, in plastic containers under the bed, and in the storage room. I considered joining Book Lovers Anonymous, but before I could look into a 12 step program my computer-geek son, as I affectionately call him, suggested a solution – for the 99th time . “Mom,” he said, “Why don’t you buy an e-book?”
While teetering on the brink of the 100th pitch to save my literary soul, I decided to woman-up and face my dilemma, and I asked myself do I continue to resist change or accept the challenge?
Although I told you that I am open to challenge, what I failed to add is that I am not a gadget person. My son knows this. So, when one of his disguised challenges involves me learning to use a new device that requires more to operate than simply turning it on and off, the needle on my “angst-ometer” swings sharply from normally functional to highly dysfunctional. Nevertheless, I bit the bullet and under the guidance of my personal geek, I bought a Kindle Fire.
Was it a blooper, blunder, or wonder? If you care to know what happened after my crossover to the e-book side continue reading Part II.