“Experience is a tool chest. As you get older, the number of your tools increases.” Deborah Szekely

Last year my father bought me a tool chest—not some little single-drawer pink plastic box but a nearly six-foot tall Craftsman multi-drawer model with a place for every tool in my possession—and then some.

While this may seem like an odd gift from a father to his grown daughter, it made perfect sense to me, since, as a homeowner, I found myself with an every-growing inventory of hand and power tools that needed to be stored.

And while in a pinch a tiny flathead screwdriver could turn a Phillips head screw, the job is so much easier when I have the right equipment—which is how I ended up with a complete assortment of drill bits, pliers and hammers, not to mention handsaws, measuring tools and two kinds of power saws: a circular saw and a chain saw.

It’s the same way in life. Each event, circumstance or challenge adds to our experience, giving us tools that better prepare us to meet the next one.

And while we may at times regret the necessity for needing all these “life tools” or for that matter, the event that made owning the tool a requirement in the first place, there is a certain amount of power and independence that comes with having a fully stocked tool chest.