A misplaced loyalty to tools

I’ve noticed this about myself before, multiple times: I tend to be loyal to the apps, software, tools I use whether or not those things are actually working for me.

It’s a misplaced loyalty, and maybe it’s because I feel so often that I think I’ve found the one - and then when it turns out that the one is not the one, after all, I don’t want to admit it? Like it’s some grievous error. Or this: I felt such clarity and depth of ‘rightness’ about this particular tool, surely I wasn’t wrong. Surely, if I just hang in there with it a little longer I’ll figure it out again…. Figure out how to make it work, how it’s the right fit.

This little psychological deviance isn’t limited to tools at all, is it?

Misplaced loyalty shows up in a lot of other areas.

It seems to come from our mythologies about salvation: I’ll be saved from my sins by a Messiah. I’ll be saved from my loneliness when I meet my soulmate. I’ll be saved from insecurity when I get enough money. I’ll be saved from self-doubt when I achieve one more thing….

Reminds me of this line from Marcus Aurelius:

If your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can.