Try to avoid using shifter as much as you can or be very gentle with it.I wasnt when i bought the wheel so the reverse gear broke down which cost me 3 weeks without lfs.
How can you miss something that you never even imagined of?If he was born back then.
You may think that we are lucky to be born now with all that fancy stuff like computers internet etc....but all those "luxuries" can be one of the reasons of depression because people get stuck infront of a screen all day.