I stretched my sore back and glanced around the room, nodding to myself that the progress made on the formerly-messy bookshelves met my own approval. I had checked off several to-do’s since dropping the boys at grandma’s and decided that I had earned a break. I didn’t have anything really in mind, but I wanted to do something that is difficult to do with active 8 and 11 year old boys asking to go to the skate park, get a slushee, play monopoly deal or get back to their Fortnite game.
So I treated myself to a fountain soda and drove around a little aimlessly at first before settling on a stop at an antique store. I patted myself on the back for my perfect parallel parking job and stepped out of the car and into what ended up being a soul-deep adjustment to my life.
No, I didn’t pay $7 for an item that turned out to be worth millions. No, I didn’t meet my soul mate (I met him 16 years ago and he still makes my heart flutter, plus, this isn’t a Hallmark movie)
I shopped for records.
More specifically, I painstakingly flipped through unalphabetized record after unalphabetized record. I wondered briefly if they would allow me to sort them and smiled quietly at the possibility of band names, artist names, genres, release date…but thought better of it.
Ok, bear with me while I get personal, because I think it’s also about you. I view the world through a lens of efficiency. I am happy to put in the time to get something done “right” in order to save time and hassle later. I am deliberate with how I organize my kitchen, where I put my keys, how I fold my towels, how I grocery shop…you get the idea. For some of you it sounds exhausting. For me it’s exhausting to not do it and then have to constantly walk to the other side of the kitchen or search for my keys as I’m walking out the door. It just makes my skin crawl. That’s why it surprised me that I was finding so much joy in flipping through these records. I had a couple in mind that I was looking for and the only way to know if they were there was to go through every. single. one.
The more I considered this counterintuitive truth the more I realized that there’s growth and health on the other side of doing the exact opposite of what we’re wired for. Like a chiropractor aligning my spine because a repetitive motion has gotten something out of place I need to lean away from the land of efficiency and lean toward the beautiful slow down of record shopping. Or going for a stroll. Or breathing in a glorious sunset.
So what’s your thing? Do you need to play? Do you need to work? Do you need to jump into something new without researching it? Do you need to do something that your people aren’t into? I hope you can find it and find life and growth in the tension of the counterweight. I also hope that you’ll share it with me. ❤️
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