In preparation for our time away, we have been going through many a drawer and wardrobe to reduce some of the clutter. During that process I’ve come across many pieces that have hardly been used during our stay in the house—whether they are toys or clothing. Other things have been regularly used in the past, but not so much recently. And then there are the things that we have looked for, regarded as lost and now have finally found.

Sometimes I thought about the day when we bought the item or when it was given as a birthday present. At that time we may have thought that it would come in really useful, or we might have regarded it overall as a fairly useless item. As I held some of those things in my hand, I realised that we were not necessarily that great in judging in advance what would come in handy in future. Some toys were clearly chosen with care, but our children hardly ever played with them. Others were used toys that we didn’t think our children would like much, but they derived hours of playtime from them. Sometimes I was certain that they were junk that would not last long, and I was proven right. There were some pieces of clothing we thought we might wear really often, but then in practice they didn’t turn out as good, while a purchase we were doubtful about turned out to be comfortable wear in all sorts of weathers.

It got me thinking that while we often judge rightly, we are sometimes really bad judges of our own needs and even wants. It would be more understandable if others do not fully know what we need or want, but that we ourselves are not always good judges of our own needs—that gave me reason to pause.

Is that also the case in other areas of life? That does not mean that we are always wrong in our evaluation. After all, we learn from experience. But at times things turn out differently from how we expect them. And that can be quite alright.