I ended 2010 with yet another thing breaking. After dissolving my corporation, breaking up with my boyfriend, resigning from a non-profit board I sat on and seeing my laptop screen fizzle, my iPod stopped working.
I bought it in 2006 as a gift to myself for ending the year on such a great note. The exact date was December 29, 2006.
On December 29, 2010 while looking at fabrics in Fabricland, my iPod dropped from my hand and hit the floor. When I picked it up, I heard something rattling inside. When I tried turning it on, a sad iPod face looked back at me.
The next day, I headed to my nearest Apple Store and when I explained to John (that was his name, John) what had happened, he shook his head and delivered the bad news.
“Sorry Leesa, but this is unfixable. Most likely, the hinge broke off and it typically has a life span of 4-5 years. So, I’m not surprised that it broke now.”
John whipped out the guts of the iPod – the inside that no one sees. He showed me the hinge which you can see in the image below.
“The hinge is so important,” John said. “It flutters back and forth to play the music, however, it’s also very fragile. Once it breaks off, you just have to get a new iPod.”
Twenty minutes later with my new iPod in my hand, I bounced out of the Apple Store thinking about this experience.
- I was shocked that on the same day spread 4-years apart I both acquired and lost my iPod.
- I was surprised that the thing that makes the iPod work is the most fragile component in the device.
- I was flabbergasted that even my old iPod was not allowed to enter my new journey with me.
But most of all I realized that the iPod is such a metaphor to my life. The iPod shell is what we see on the outside. It’s pretty. It’s beautiful. If anyone saw my old iPod, you wouldn’t think anything was wrong.
The same with me. If you looked at my business, everything looked fine. I had mountains of information products. I was speaking at everyone’s virtual and non-virtual events. I was hosting my own well attended teleclasses. All looked well.
But inside the iPod, the hinge was deteriorating. It was slowly breaking down. Although it was doing what it was supposed to do, its lifespan was fixed. And I couldn’t see it slowly disintegrating because the shell hid what was going on inside.
Again, this was similar to my own business. I was unfocused. I followed every shiny object. My goal was making money, so I quickly launched a products to pull in income. My hinge was my success and although it worked flawlessly, it was slowly coming apart.
Once the hinge broke, my iPod no longer worked. It was useless. In my business, my hinge broke when people stopped buying my products and when my virtual and non-virtual events no longer filled up. My business had become useless.
Although I wasn’t able to save my old iPod, I was able to diagnose the problem with some help. I then got a new one because my creativity is useless without my iPod. The music and content I play on my iPod while I work, while I drive or while I work out at the gym keeps me motivated. I had to get a new one.
With my business, it could only be saved once I leaned on God. I put my entire trust in Him. God showed me that for me to be successful, I need to be in His presence. Ask for His guidance and humble myself as God directs me on a new path.
“If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statues and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David.” 1 Kings 11: 38
