One Little Bag

We took out one garbage bag to the curb this week. One.

This was down from 3-4 bags stuffed to capacity that prompted my post last week. And it felt effortless.

I can't exactly applaud myself for being earth-friendly over it, since I now spend hours a day driving up and down Penn Avenue with dropping Laurel off and picking her up from school.

But no matter. It's not really about trash.

It's about how easy it was to change something that was bothering me. It made me wonder about why it feels so hard to change things sometimes.

I had to quit smoking nine times before it stuck. But the ninth try was easy.

When we lived in Arizona, we yearned for adventure. For a year or so, we complained about our boring lives, working long hours, settling down. Getting old. Then one day we decided that if we wanted more adventure we should shut up already and do it. We started by wandering off into the Superstitions, and then a few months later started getting rid of all our stuff to go on a cross country road trip, followed by a thru-hike of the AT. People asked us all the time how we did it. Sometimes their questions started off about what we packed and did we use a water purifier or a filter and what are our favorite boots. Usually, though, it ended up with, "how'd you find that kind of time?"

We all have the same 168 hours in a week. We didn't find any secret time that was hiding out. We made choices.

About 10 years ago we met a friend of Jack's, and I've been following his work since then, as his career as a writer and story teller has blossomed. Just this morning, he posted this video on Facebook. Today, he and his wife are moving to Costa Rica. They wanted to do it and are making it happen. (You can read about their adventures here.) Anyway, I'll hit publish before I get all self-help-y on you. Enjoy the video. Now go do something epic. Or just paint the bathroom wall already, or whatever it is that's hanging out on your to-do list.