By James Durand
It’s been a busy … well, 10 years I guess. Like most of you, work, kids, and ambition get away from us all and before we know it we’ve become busy adults, despite our youthful intentions of a simple life.
A few years back Chenoa and I decided to simplify life and try to get a bit more down time. (translation – less work and more play, more relaxing, and more time with the kids)
It’s been an uphill battle the entire time and breaking away from old habits has been tough, but this year has been different. The Swicked crew is awesome and the work load is being shared. Whenever my control freak tendencies sneak out, they call me on it and therefore, I’ve been enjoying some regular days off work each week.
In the last month I’ve ridden more than the previous four months, I’ve squeezed in three road trips with one more on the horizon, and on days where I start early, I leave early and I’ve been spending some amazing afternoons with my kids.
It’s all starting to fall into place, but as I play more I felt I needed to organize our toys at home so we can have a quick turnaround from bikes, to lacrosse, to beach time, to what ever else is on the schedule.
Simple is a process and if I can avoid hunting for stuff all the time, it will be that much simpler again, and allow for even more fun time in the future. (Yeah I know, I can’t help it. And I already admitted to being a control freak a few sentences ago.)
I decided to organize my garage so the kids can grab their own bikes, and more importantly, PUT THEIR STUFF AWAY, after they’ve finished playing. It’s a pipe dream I know, but I’m trying to keep hope alive.
A big step was to finish off our shed to make it usable and first things first, it needed a floor. Since I get a couple of days off work each week now, I decided to handle this one on my own, so last Wednesday, I spread sand, levelled out the floor, and hand bombed 54, 87-lb cement pavers out of my truck and into the shed.
I normally wake up Thursday mornings excited for the Swicked group ride, but last Thursday, the morning after my shed task, I woke up, asked Chenoa to help me out of bed, applied a large dose of CBD cream to my back, legs, arms, and neck, and started eating breakfast. I had double breakfast that morning and then stopped for a snack on the way to Swicked.
Around noon, I think I finally stood up straight and felt like I might be able to ride my bike on the group ride, but definitely not quickly. Apparently, it has been many years since I had a job where physical labour was the main task and I’ve softened considerably in that time, or I got old, maybe both. I’m writing this on Thursday afternoon and I can barely hold my arms up to type.
I’m re-thinking this whole simplify plan, it may have been easier to be really busy at work.
I’m James Durand and I’m Goin’ for a Nap…