As per the usual Saturday morning tradition, I grabbed an extra 30 minutes or so of slumber, meandered my way down stairs, poured a cup of coffee, sat on the couch and opened my computer to begin my weekend ritual.  I get the brain juices flowing with the the Wordle and the like, followed by a little light entertainment news* catchup before moving on to my disciplined weekly exercise of writing/blogging/journaling/ whatever it is you want to call this thing.  Sometimes, I sit and know exactly what to say – what topic make sense, what events have transpired, or what’s up and coming that I most look forward to.  Sometimes I sit down and just have no idea how to organize my thoughts or what it is that I could ramble about that worth rambling.  Today is that kind of day.

*to be clear – I am not talking TMZ level nuisance or the type of news that infringes on the privacy of others.  Given the lack of time and availability I have to actually absorb entertainment at the cinema, I scratch that itch instead by means of trailers, articles, podcasts, etc.  There is enough of the doomsday news coming at me throughout regular daily activities, that this little sneak peak into escapism is a welcomed reprieve.

After staring at the screen for more than a few minutes, my youngest came down the stairs and sat next to me.  “What should I write about?” I asked her.  “I don’t know.  Stuff.”  was her reply.

‘Helpful’ my sarcastic internal voice responded, and I went back to dreading the exercise I committed myself to.  Or at least that was until I realized her suggested topic was right on point.  ‘Stuff’. as it happens, or at least the abundance of it, is precisely where my head was at this week.

Whether it’s in discussion with the physical possessions that surround us, or the proverbial ‘pile on our plate’, we are all surrounded by stuff.  Some of it good – the gizmo and gadgets that bring us joy, the books we read, those little toy blocks we assemble into works of art – but then again, some of it’s not so good.  Some stuff we collect just takes up space, be it in our home or in our hearts.  I have more Tupperware lids than bottoms, for example.  There are happy meal toys under the seats in my car.  Apparently I own tennis rackets.  I have knick knacks and bric-a-brac that came into our home at some point over time and it has somehow never left.  I have no shame in sharing this information because, though I am not a hoarder, I know full-well that I am not alone.  We all have a junk drawer somewhere in our home, have all thought about picking up ‘that sport’, and while you may not have happy meal toys under your seats, I’ll wager any amount that there is something under there that is by all right unintentional and unnecessary. Stuff is just a part of our lives…though it doesn’t need to be physical in nature to take up valuable space.

The type of stuff that came to mind when my daughter suggested the topic, the stuff that was on-point for this week, was not the items that adorn my shelves or could be found under the cushions.  No, the stuff that came to mind was the myriad of events, thoughts, and stresses that seemed to have snuck into our lives over the past several weeks. From mortgage renewals and insurance premiums, to hospital visits and added workloads, the weight of things this week felt heavy.  I don’t mean that to sound ‘woe is me’ – Alison and I take pauses frequently in our days to remind one another of the good that exists in our life – our mortgage may be increasing, but we have a home. Our insurance may be going up, but we have transportation.  For everything I could like find complaints about, I can find equal appreciation in the privileges we have and the situation that we are in.  Even still, sometimes that can be a bit much, and sometimes we need a change.

To save you time, I will skip to the end of recent events that transpired in my life, and state simply that I was reminded of what’s important and that sometimes we need to listen to the whispers of caution to make change before it turns into a scream.

We cant always control the stuff that comes into our lives, which is why it’s important to consider the things we can control.  Eating breakfast at tome instead of in the car, stepping away from the desk for lunch, declining an unnecessary meeting invite, turning off the TV half an hour sooner, all things that we can be in control of that may can benefit our health and could provide some relief against the things that we can’t.  At some point throughout my week, someone reminded me that ‘insert select individuals names here’ don’t get to control how I feel.  They may frustrate me, or cause me grief throughout my efforts, but to award them power over my feelings and investing care in their opinions of me is clearly not what’s on their minds…it’s what’s on mine and, as hard as it may be, allowing them that power will only result in damaging returns.  Just the same as I don’t want those things collecting dust on my shelves, or those loose French fries between the seats of my car, I should try my best to discard of, or at least move on from the stuff that doesn’t matter.

People aren’t French fries.  I know that.  But the ‘stuff’ that certain people can pile on can sometimes be no different than those runaway frites – at one time they seemed like a good idea, but now they lie limp, cold and full of shame every time you bring a passenger into the car – “the kids just make a mess whenever they eat in the car, I swear it’s not me!”.  Nah, it feels so much better to throw them away than to let them fester, or, better yet, just don’t bring them into your life in the first place.