Some days ago I received a package containing some electronic supplies. In the package were a handful of microcontrollers, various sensors, some LEDs etc. All the nifty tings that are fun to interconnect and send a current through.
But there was also a couple of dot matrix display, and that was the real killer for me. When I was a child at the age of about 8 to 12 years, I always dreamt of unpacking a brand new dot matrix display and connecting it to some of the gadgets that I were soldering together. I didn’t have the money (they were expensive back then) and I didn’t have the knowledge either, so I didn’t venture down the display avenue until much later.
So when I unpacked the display I got this special feeling that: “Wow, I am finally able to get hands on a dot matrix display and I’m able to connect it to the circuitry that I am working on”. It’s a little weird, because I’ve unpacked several displays and connected them many times since my youth, but the feeling persists.
While I could pass that feeling off and not think so much about it, I try and appreciate it instead. Appreciate the fact that I was longing so much for something that I’m now able to work with every day – and not least that I’m still able to feel joy doing so.
In this world it’s a privilege that one is able to work with something that is joyful.