I was given a homework assignment today at work.
Next week, as part of our special group retreat, we have been tasked with bringing in three items to share. Yes, like show-and-tell. What? That totally counts as homework.
We’re supposed to “…pick out three items that are meaningful to you to bring…think of family, hobbies, trips, education, work…whatever is most meaningful…”
So of course, being the ever-diligent student that I am, I’ve been turning ideas over and over in my head since I first read the email. What do I have that is meaningful? Is it what I own? What I’ve done? How do I demonstrate meaningful experiences with tangible objects? Am I overthinking this?
This is kind of a big deal, since it’s my new job with new people and new opportunities to share new (and old) parts of my life. That’s a lot of new, so I think my indecision is somewhat expected. And it is indecision as opposed to anxiety, so that’s a plus. For now.
I’m absolutely a sentimental person by nature, but over the past several years I’ve had to become far more pragmatic in practice. For me, visual clutter is a major trigger for mental clutter, especially if I’m stressed. Most of the time I gravitate to the cleanest, sparsest room in the house (which even then isn’t very sparse by modern design standards) because it’s easier for me to think straight without the distractions. It took years for me to realize that I wasn’t doing myself any favors by keeping every scrap of every daily memento, but even now if I’m feeling nostalgic (or unmotivated) (or unmedicated) I can easily slip in to old patterns.
All of that is to say that I don’t actually have a ton of physical schtuff to go through looking for my three perfect items, and instead I’m trying to approach this task by identifying three parts of the whole (me), and then finding the object to represent the parts (of me).
Yeah. I am totally overthinking this.
Maybe I should just bring in something like this portrait Avi made on the back of an Old Navy box of me with curly hair and a hook for a hand.
He was very apologetic about the hook, especially since I don’t actually have one. I didn’t mind, though.
At least I have a week to figure out what I should do. And just like the student I have always been, I’ll no doubt wait until Tuesday evening to get my objects together.
So what three things would you bring?
That picture is funny to me because it’s the only part of Avi that is like a 5 year old. I actually looked at it and thought “oh, he must have drawn that when he was little”. and then I remembered that, uhm, he is little. For some reason I expect him to be able to draw just like you – probably because he talks just like you. I like the hook, it’s adorable!
I need help learning how to stop keeping every single thing that I receive. Be it a greeting card or jewelry that is not my taste… I keep it. I have huge bags full of greeting cards from my younger years. I have never… not once… felt like looking through these bags of paper clutter. But maybe I will *one day*. That’s the only thing keeping them from the trash can. Ugh.
Damn, I need to revise. I MUST include a rockin’ pair of earrings. They are kinda my thing.
They are!
Hmm, I am not a very sentimental person. It’s a hard one. I would probably a printed invitation that Chris and I designed together for the Barrymore Awards some years ago, a dress I made for Blackbird, and a black and white picture that Chris took of me and Twin Sophomore year of college (although I could also bring in a paint elevation from a long lost show or something). Interested to find out what you bring….