Fixing v. Dealing

Paperclip drawer handle I added

My apartment's doorknob has been wiggly ever since I moved in. Yesterday one of my roommates mentioned it too, and it dawned on me. I can do something about it. So I did. I whipped out my leatherman's screwdriver and fixed it in less than a minute.
For me it seems easy to just deal with things and something has to knock me over the head before I realize I can actually fix it instead of just "dealing" with it. Which really sounds pretty silly but sometimes that is just how it is... It makes me wonder what other things I ignore until I am forced into doing something about them.
And the thing is, it always feels surprisingly satisfactory to complete these tasks.

Evolving Views of Friendship

I had an online conversation when I was a teenager about what a friend was (and I feel like I've written about it before but I couldn't find it so perhaps not). I argued that a friend was someone with whom you could be completely yourself, share anything. The person I was talking to disagreed. He said that was a far too narrow view of friendship basically saying that that was impossible. 

I think he was right. Perhaps instead I will define a friend (for now) as someone who appreciates you when you are being you. Being your most you.

Green Space

Once during my mission in Indiana I had been living and working in a fairly large city and it's suburbs. My life seemed to be mostly made up of getting in and out of a car or houses. Sure there were trees around and bushes but mostly I just looked past them at the sidewalks I was walking on or at the doors I was knocking on. Then one night we drove out a ways into a more country area to visit someone. As I was getting out of the car it was dark and the stars were shining overhead, there was little light pollution and it was quiet with only a brisk wind blowing over stubble strewn fields, and around the old farm house. I breathed out and the peacefulness of it was almost shocking.
Quite a while ago I posted about emotional needs that I need to be filled. Green space is one I didn't mention there but I will add now. As shown in the example above it doesn't even necessarily need to be green...
I spend the majority of my waking hours during the week in a room of cubicles. Many of my peers eat lunch at their desks. Sometimes I think I am overly protective of my lunch time but ever since elementary school when I would read my book at lunch, I have always set apart my lunch time as a time to do something I enjoy. Reading or talking and I love to do it outside even when it's cold, although it might be too cold soon.

Western Stellar Jay I saw where I take my lunch sometimes.

Living in an apartment complex with not very much green space around, especially not after dark, I have resorted to doing laps around my complex, and surprisingly it works. I think in this case the cold helps, because even though it isn't really "green" space it is a feeling of naturalness. So basically I shouldn't have said "green space" I should have said "time with nature" or something. Anyway.

Ripples in the fountain near where I take my lunch on other days (carefully cropped so you can't see anything).