As it warms up, I'm taking off my peacoat. I'm giving serious debate to wearing my scarf. My gloves and hat sit in my bag, unused. In the same way, I'm paying more attention to shrugging off the weight of all things heavy as we make a return to the seasons of growth, of warmth, and (at least historically for me) of travel.
Once you've moved around enough. And often enough. And liked it. There is a general mindset of being in perpetual motion that settles itself into your perspective of life. There is a sweet spot I like to live in between concerns of having too little to survive and having too much to survive. Any item that fits form over function I look at warily: are you a talisman? a paperweight? an anchor? Everything needs to be light, durable, distinct, difficult to replace (though mostly only sentimentally), and also easy to replace with something equally distinct and durable (it's a contradiction, but it makes sense if you think about it a bit). The worst mental place to be is stuck between the thoughts that you can't win the fight to keep what you have and you can't give up the object of the fight itself. One or the other has to happen. Or you at least need to believe in one or the other.
I don't mean literally always moving physical locations; what kind of a life is that? I've loved Chicago and have been here for nearly 2 years. Will I move from here one day? One day soon? Will I stay forever? Not so important. Primarily, I mean simply moving through Life. Life is neither a lazy river nor a rocky hike through rough terrain. It's whitewater rafting. You are absolutely guaranteed to run into peaceful sections and dangerous sections. Some fast, some slow. It doesn't matter what you do, you'll get both...and more. Either way, you keep moving forward. Even if you don't want to, you are being carried towards something new and next, better or worse.
I have tons of things I don't need. Redundant coats, redundant bags. I just checked a work email that rang up on my tablet as I'm typing this on my laptop. Ridiculous. It doesn't change my core belief though. I just struggle to keep it in the center. Sometimes, I lean far too ascetic. The technological era has helped out. The "cloud" makes it easier to keep photos and memories safe and tucked away, though I still have a paper journal that I'd be sad to find missing. But what do I have that I couldn't leave behind in a fire (literal and figurative)? I'd like to be able to brush off the ash and soot (literal and figurative) and walk away only inconvenienced rather than inconsolable: loyal to what is (and should be) truly important to me, and agile in all other moments.
Kind of a preachy tone to this post, huh? Feel free to preach back in the comments. These posts go better when stories are involved, but I haven't been consistent enough to write down all the new ones that pop up. Maybe with a more cohesive theme, I could stay a bit more on topic. Until then, it's a going to be an inconsistent peppering of quick-writes. Let's keep this thing going with an overall humor to the tone. I'd like that; I think you're gonna like that.
