The Quest for Chips
We have a snack machine in the building where I work. I’ve had problems with this machine in the past. I will put my money in, make my selection, & I will see the chips start to fall. They will either get hung up before dropping, or they get caught in a trap & don’t fall entirely down in the tray where you can retrieve them.
There have been times when I will pay for another snack in the hopes it will push the other trapped snack down & then they both get caught up in the machine, just hanging there, tempting me to add more money & try again.
This happened to me again last week. I selected the New Orleans Voodoo chips (it’s Mardi Gras time) & watched them drop, only to get hung up before falling entirely down into the tray. I shook, cajoled, & tried to get my hand in far enough to pull them down, but nothing worked.
Life can be like a snack machine. There will be times when you put effort into something but get little to no results in return. And, what is crazy, we keep doing the same thing over & over, hoping the results will change. Isn’t this the definition of insanity?
We pour our emotional energy into all sorts of things (relationships, family, friends, work), hoping we will get positive results. At what point do we say it’s time to stop investing in an effort that only provides a payback 50% of the time?
The slot machines in Las Vegas will tease you occasionally with a pay-off, but human nature is that you will continue to invest your winnings & eventually, the machines will leave you high & dry!
I’m insane, also. I continue to put money into the snack machine, hoping it will work right one day and I will get the snack I paid for. It’s no longer about the chips but the quest to see if I can get some chips. I keep dropping by the snack machine every now & then to see if the voodoo chips are still hanging there. Yep, they’re still there. I’m not giving up on my quest, but the machine wins again this time!