Can we talk about how recapping a Game Gear almost made me quit this hobby

I picked up a broken Game Gear at a flea market in Akron for $15 and figured a recap would take me maybe two hours. Six hours later I had lifted two pads, bridged a joint near the power board, and the screen still showed nothing but a white bar. What surprised me was that the failure didn't make me mad, it made me calm, because I had to slow way down and redo every joint with a cheap magnifier and way less solder. I learned that the messy repair I bungled taught me more about patience than the ten consoles I fixed on the first try ever did. The thing finally booted Sonic 2 three weeks later, and I just sat there watching the title screen loop. So my hot take is that people should stop bragging about fast repairs and start showing the ones that went sideways. Who else has a project that went so bad it actually taught them something?