When the Shine Wears Off

While polishing my grandmother's silver tea set today, I was reminded how easy it is to love something when it is shiny and new. Occasionally, it is interesting or useful enough that we continue to interact with it until it breaks or wears out...but more often than not, our attention wanes. The novelty wears off more quickly than the shine, and we soon set the object aside to tarnish or collect dust while we chase the next shiny new object.

Restoring the shine to something we've set aside in the past can be a discouraging prospect. Whether it's a relationship, a project or an actual object, it takes work to remove the film that has built up over the course of our neglect. There are layers that need to be sloughed off and rinsed away with care. And to be perfectly honest, we can't always bring the thing back to its original condition.

But sometimes there is a new patina that adds depth and value to what we hold; and a sense of renewed connection that brings greater satisfaction than the shiny new original ever did.