I woke up in plenty of time to accomplish the morning activities: devote, work-out, shower, pack and eat. In fact, ample time was given for all of these projects since I woke up 31 minutes before my alarm. I love head starts in the morning. Given that these extra 30ish minutes were available to me and the fact that I haven’t worked-out in a few sluggish days, I dedicated the extra moments to the gym. Wow- it was great, the morning was alive, my heart was beating, my endorphins were racing.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that I scheduled our departure 30 minutes later in my head than verbally announced. Therefore, finishing in the gym, gross and sweaty (nothing new though the Louisiana humidity added it’s layer) at 10am, departure time, did not jive with the activities that remained to be done, most significantly packing, showering, and eating. Oops!
The oops impacted more than just the obvious subjects, ie the rest of the crew, my stomach from hunger, and my heart rate which was already high. My hurried last moments impacted the earth. For the first time in a while I used 5 towels. I used 2 little ones while I lifted and ran, but in my haste to get back to the room, I grabbed another one mopped my forehead before showering. Had I been at normal pace and thinking rate, I would have gone to my room casually with a shower to look forward to. Instead, I grabbed one towel to mop off the sweat so I could run around like a chicken with no head, apologizing for my tardiness, packing my bags, checking the weather and forgetting the shower was the first and most important step to being in the car soon. Finally, I rushed, washed and rinsed only to grab another towel and also use a superfluous towel on the ground when the big one from the gym would have been sufficient. Oh my, I was out of control.
As I stay in hotels every night for the next 3 months, I’m very aware of the linens I use. I follow hotel’s directions so they won’t wash my towels, but inevitably they take them. The small imprint I have everyday with a new towel that then has to be washed, dried, folded, and redistributed is quite astounding to me. Today’s events created 200% more laundry for me than normal. That’s 3 more towels that had to be washed that could have remained well prepared for the next guest. Likewise, soap is necessary, but how much do I go through for every hotel? I could have a pound of soap by the end of tour for all the small bars I open everyday.
Now, I might be exaggerating like an overzealous tree-hugger, but my point is this: under the pressure and fire of time and need for accomplishment, I resorted to bad habits that can have significant impact. Had I not rushed, I might have used fewer towels or not opened another soap. As I rushed out of the room, I left my empty water bottle that could have been refilled. It’s easy to live carelessly when I’m surrounded by abundance, but I’m doing my best to remember that I am richly blessed and one of the lucky few. Such abundance and material wealth surrounds me in America and habits of waste, indifference about the long term impact of my actions, and drive to meet selfish needs often become my default. But with a bit of discipline these habits can change. It will take some breaking, sacrificing, and slower living to be able to fall back on them when under pressure.
I wonder what else in my life could use some intentional reprogramming in order for good habits to be the default habits, especially in the fire. Positive thinking and encouragement? Forgiveness over grudges? Hope and possibility before pessimism or doubt? Changing my habits for the earth will be tricky at times, but the physical actions will be tangible reminders. These other areas of clean-up require more than a planted tree or recycled plastic bottle. A fire in side will refine them into a heart of precious metal. I won’t be recycling that.
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