There is a particular kind of confidence that comes from having never, not once, understood how a car works. Tommy Metz III has that confidence in spades. In this episode, he reveals that his first car — a used Jeep Cherokee he lovingly named "Peace" (short for "piece of," well, you can fill in the rest) — featured a steering wheel so structurally compromised that he'd been casually jamming it back into the dashboard for months, under the assumption that this was simply how cars sometimes worked.

It was not.

The steering wheel eventually came off entirely at a stoplight. Which truly sets the tone for this week’s episode about two adults who have been winging the maintenance of their lives with varying degrees of success.

From there, the episode splits into dual adulting topics: car maintenance and laundry — two pillars of what Pete calls "maintenance rituals," the invisible, unglamorous labor of keeping your life from quietly falling apart. Tommy confesses to a lifetime of automotive ignorance and makes a surprisingly persuasive case for dealership loyalty. Pete delivers a laundry crash course, dismantling myths about fabric softener (it's coating your clothes in wax), detergent dosing (the cap is lying to you), and dry cleaning (it's not dry, and please stop smelling it).

Competence in adulthood isn't about mastering everything, it's about finding the one or two maintenance rituals you're willing to own and doing them with quiet, slightly irrational pride. For Pete, that's a drawer full of Marie Kondo-folded t-shirts. For Tommy, it's the peace of mind that comes from letting a dealership send him a video before they touch anything. Neither of them knows what a fan belt is.

---
Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. Visit allthefeelings.fum/join to learn more!