My Big Screen TV Taught Me a Small but Powerful Lesson

Big Screen TV Have Come A Long Way - This one is 100 inches, wow!

When I finally installed that big TV in my hometown living room, reality showed up quickly. There was no electricity. I did have an inverter with four deep-cycle batteries, but anyone who has tried running a large TV on an inverter knows how that story ends. A few hours of watching, and the batteries are drained.

So the TV stayed there, looking nice, but rarely turned on.

Like many Haitians before and after me, I adapted. I watched movies on my phone. I used my laptop. Sometimes a small tablet. It worked. It required less power, less stress, and far fewer headaches.

Living in a provincial area where electricity is unreliable or unavailable most of the time, the need for a 47-inch television simply wasn't there. Watching a movie on a small screen was good enough. And in that "good enough," I found peace.

That experience quietly changed how I look at excess. I learned that what we want is not always what we need. I learned that convenience does not always mean size or price. Sometimes, efficiency wins.

That big TV is still with me today. It no longer works. It sits in storage, untouched. I am emotionally attached to it, even though I know I will never repair it. After paying $1,600 for something that once felt cutting-edge, it is hard to let it go. Not because it is useful, but because of what it represented at the time.

And that may be the final lesson.

Growth often comes when we realize that our real needs are smaller than our dreams once were. Transformation happens when we stop chasing what looks impressive and start appreciating what actually works. Sometimes, life strips things down just enough to teach us that simplicity is not a loss. It is freedom.

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