The dripping faucet

It isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out,
it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.
Unknown

I’m reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig at the moment. I gave this book as a gift to my brother, because he is into touring with a motorcycle, and now I’m reading it because it seem to be a trait we might share soon.

In one of the first chapters there was a nice bit about the pair the author is traveling with and their inability to fix a broken faucet, which keep dripping the whole time, and the stress this puts on their nerves. He also stresses how they would not blame the faucet when their tempers explode because an additional stressor comes in.

This part reminded me how important it is to have a place where you are not confronted with stressors, and if stressors appear there, to fix them as early as possible — and permanently. Otherwise they wear you down. It will not make you explode in most cases, but it fills the metaphorical bucket that represents the stress you can take — steadily, one drop at a time — until something else pours into it and you explode needlessly but violently.
The difficulty is to identify the stressors when you have started to ignore them for some time. Unconsciously driving them out of your consciousness they still sap your energy even when you do not realize them … until you are literally willing to sell the house to avoid the dripping faucet.

So, look around, what is a silent stressor in your home that saps your energy? And what can you do about it to end it permanently?

P.S.: Yes, everybody knows about this, but knowing is not doing and — be honest — isn’t there something that is bugging you … inch by inch? 😉