June 22, 2020 - 283 - "Heavy Load"

Everyday Baggage

     As much as I love the idea of paring down what I own, I've been noticing it takes a lot of stuff to get me through my day.  

     I like to keep my desk open.  I can think better when I have a big empty space to work.  

     But I accomplish this not by having less stuff, but by having a really large desk.  

     My desk is really a table.  It came from a sale at a church in our neighborhood.  It was probably used in one of the Sunday school classrooms...to accommodate 6 or eight people.    

     The middle stays empty but around the edges, there's a lot of stuff:  a candle, incense and burners, holders for two sizes of index cards, and a variety of sticky notes.  Then there's a Himalayan salt lamp, a coffee mug warmer, coasters, a desk lamp, lip balm, hand lotion, a timer or two, jars of pens and highlighters....and a pillow for Ella to sleep on.  

     Oh, yeah...and I manage to squeeze my laptop on the desk too!

A Moveable Feast

    But I don't just work at my desk.  I move around the house during the day, depending on what I'm working on.  

     There's a mirror at the bottom of the front stairs and I've been noticing I rarely go by it without having big armfuls of must-have items.  

   Again though the idea of minimalism is an appealing one to me....I've just never been that good of a practicing minimalist.  

      I usually have at least two beverages going:  a big glass of water and coffee or tea.  Then there's the traveling jar of pens and highlighters, and whatever notebooks and planners I'm using.  Plus whatever books I'm reading at the moment.  (And, no...it's never just one.)  

     Even in the summer I sometimes have a sweater, jacket, throw blanket, or towel depending on the temperature and if there's any rain.  (Which we've been lucky to have quite a bit of lately.)

  Oh yeah..and sometimes a laptop.

I Need to Hire a Sherpa

    When I make these treks from place to place in the house I typically gather up a couple of loads of stuff.  Unfortunately, I only ever want to make one trip.  This requires me to get creative.

     I stick things in my pocket, maybe my Airpods in an empty mug or inside a shoe, I'll hang a coffee cup off of my pinkie while carrying the random shoes I've collected upstairs...back down to the closet.

       I do sometimes ask myself:  "Would it kill me to make two trips?"  

      The answer tends to be:  "Well, I doubt it...but why risk it?"

      Here are some of the moments I've noticed this week.  Sometimes I had even more stuff...but then I couldn't take a picture.  These were when I noticed and actually was able to maneuver my phone around for a snapshot.  

     I also caught a couple from our alarm system's cameras.  Just by choosing random days and times I easily found examples of carrying way more than is reasonable.

Daily Hits of Happy

   -Michael said this morning (on June 22nd!):  "You might need a sweater if you're going to sit outside.  It's raining and 70 degrees."  

   -Naps with Ella

   -Sleeping well

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"His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop.  

It was the best feeling."

-Joseph Gordon-Levitt

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"Pay attention to what is weighing you down.  

You'll probably find stuff you shouldn't be carrying."

-from #bossbabe

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"You'll never have any mental muscle 

if you don't have any heavy stuff to pick up."

-Diane Lane

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"It is preoccupation with possessions, 

more than anything else, 

that prevents us from living freely and nobly."

-Bertrand Russell

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