Our guest couch isn’t exactly a luxurious bed, but in the morning, our friend still claimed it was the best sleep he’d had in a while. For one, our apartment has proper shutters that close all the way, and for another, he could hear the strong rain we had that night fall against those shutters. London, where he is from, rarely offers either of those things.
“Man, it’s so dark when the shutters are down. It’s great!” he said. He also explained that he sometimes plays “those rain sound videos” on his speakers all night. “But this is the real deal!”
When you pull a fake iPhone out of the box, you’ll immediately recognize your mistake. But not every replacement is obvious. We can go for years without realizing we’ve lost the real deal. We might even forget we’re dealing with a surrogate altogether — but blinds don’t make a room completely dark, and recorded rain sounds are never as vivid as the ones outside your window.
Don’t settle for substitutes. Insist on the real deal.