Don’t Go In Skeptical
Yesterday, we had the pleasure of having a plumber come to our house to diagnose low water pressure. I am far from handy and know nothing about plumbing, so we’ve worked with a local company for years whenever we have a plumbing issue, and I just trust that they are going to be honest with their diagnosis and recommendations.
We don’t get the same plumber each time they come out, which thankfully is not often, so the gentleman who came to our house was a stranger that I was going to trust, as long as I didn’t sense I shouldn’t. He checked out our water softener, water heater, and a few other things and returned with the diagnosis that our sixteen-year-old water softener was causing the problem–we’d need a new softener.
He also shared some concerns about the water heater, which is pushing eight years old and is about the same time we had to replace the last one. There were a few small leaks that were only visible by the salt residue on the ground, and there were some signs that the heater had to work too hard to heat the water.
His recommendation: a new water softener and water heater.
It was with his recommendation that I could have tried to figure out whether or not he was upselling me, making a recommendation that wasn’t best for me, or just out to screw me over. I could have challenged him, although he dropped more plumbing knowledge on me during our small talk than I care to remember—he knew his stuff, or got a second opinion, which would have meant we’d have low water pressure for a few more days or longer.
Instead, and maybe this is naive on my part, I trusted him. I came into the day’s appointment trusting that I’d meet someone who knew what they were doing and would make a recommendation that was best for our house–I never worried about getting scammed. I don’t have the knowledge to call him on a bluff, and I also don’t want to draw out the process of getting our water pressure fixed, so I can get a handful of opinions that will most likely end up with the same recommendation.
I also didn’t want to not take his advice and skip the water heater only to have it blow out in the next year or two and cause more damage than the cost of the new one.
While I didn’t love starting the new year off with an unexpected expense like that, the experience was not bad because I didn’t spend the day looking for how I was getting taken advantage of. It’s much more enjoyable to hire companies with good reputations and trust that they will take care of you.
Yes, this does leave you open to having someone take advantage of you, and maybe I could have gotten a few more years out of the water heater, but I don't have any concerns anymore about a flooded basement because the water heater gave out. If you are operating from a state of alignment, your intuition will tell you that something isn’t right. Yesterday, my intuition told me that he was honest with his diagnosis and that the options he provided were the best; in addition, he was able to get things fixed yesterday.
Life is more enjoyable when you enter into experiences in a state of trust and openness. Believing that everyone is out to get you, that humans are inherently dishonest and evil, or just not willing to trust people is an exhausting way to live, not to mention being skeptical about every encounter you have will only attract the negative experiences you are trying to protect your Self from.
Don’t go into experiences skeptical; instead, be optimistic, trusting, and open to the experience. If your intuition tells you something is off, listen to and follow it. Otherwise, allow positive experiences to happen to you by expecting them.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
