It had been six months, or maybe a year.  I'd lost track.  Sometimes the printer worked fine.  The motor hummed, the gears cranked, and eventually a document popped out.  At other times, I got an error message.  Once in a while it told me there was no connection. The print function had several versions of "no."  It was often resolved by re-booting the printer once.  Almost always the second time.  It never shut down completely, but I was chronically annoyed.

This week I crossed the threshold of irritation, and decided to take more decisive action.  I Googled the error message, and was taken to the HP troubleshooting webpage for my printer.  An hour later, I had followed directions, uninstalled, re-installed, and updated the driver.  An hour later, it was printing every time.

Since having that experience, I have been watching for other examples, and they are legion: the things I find mildly annoying, live with, work around, and still find annoying day after day. I see these things as a part of life; they are always with us.  Some of them deserve action because of serious consequences.  Others just because they are driving me nuts, one error message at a time.

I have noticed a suspicious skin condition.

The brakes make a new noise.

My bank account doesn't balance.

That back pain is acting up again.

I'm not sleeping well.

Every so often, I think it is good to stop and look around for examples like these.  What signals of need for change have I been pushing into the background?  Has the time come to pay attention, figure it out, and take action? 

Take an inventory: What suspicious or annoying signs are you ignoring?  Which of those call for action now?  What will you do about it today?