Tea with McNair

• the reason for the box

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Moving from a 1600 square foot loft in a transformed cotton mill (built in 1917) to a very nice, 1100 sq. ft. "2x2" apartment is a big adjustment (actually small-er). It has all the appliances in the catalog.  There are lots of walls. Why do we need to divide...everything?  (Loft fire door from living room into 16' x 24' studio, at right.)
    Today, I will descend into my extra-long, attached garage and explore  my treasure trove of BOXES. We keep stuff, we put it in boxes. The boxes get stacked and shoved into the corners of garages, closets, spare rooms, and basements (for out Midwest and New England viewers.)
    Those boxes (and the stuff inside) stay there till....well, most likely until we move again. But no one moves, especially not the boxes—or the stuff inside. Everything stays put and collects more boxes of stuff.
     I am keenly aware that I live in a box full of boxes and go to work in a large (and very nice) box full of boxes (offices, cubicles, conferences rooms, auditorium, cafe.)
    [ To the benefit of my new employer, Compassion International, I must mentions last Friday's outdoor burger bash: featuring your choice of beef, veggie, turkey, or bison, and an array of toppings! Very successful and NO ONE wanted to go back inside.]
    If you've been visiting TEA BLOG (here) a while you've seen my other posts on sorting, storing, and "reducing your stuff." (Go there now, even for a refresher.) This is a never-ending battle for actively creative types (you and me.) Keeping too much stuff is also a battle for...everyone else.
   Today I turn my garage-full of boxes (okay half-full, I can get me car in there as well) into a treasure hunt. Some of the treasure I will keep and it will graduate to the upstairs living quarters and home studio. A good bit will be tossed, given away (at work), or "Goodwilled." Sadly, too much stuff will be kept—in boxes, in a dark garage.
    I shall, once again, employ my long-standing rules for keeping stuff: do I love it, does it still fit, does having it (even in a box, in a dark garage) make me happy, or can I get it elsewhere: online, at a library, or from a friend. (Do we really need all those CD boxes and original art? Having purchased my own copies why not store many of them on an external hard drive, or generic disks? Whereas I do not have the most books within my circle of friends, I do have more than I need to keep—and that's after getting rid of about 30% of my books before my move in January. (I also plan to break all my log-standing rules for sorting stuff.)
    I haven't yet explored the used book and music store scene here in Colorado Springs, but any of my stuff that I sell, I will use the money for Compassion's Child Survival Program (CSP) that's a new website about our "holistic" approach to releasing children from poverty. CSP is my new pet project that assists families with little kids and babies with health and survival issues. ($20 a month supports a center for prenatal to pre-school kids and parents. This is Compassion's newest and quite vital work.)
    For the next few hours I am on a different mission, a treasure hunt. Wanna play?

• stopping the sun

I found an extra day a few years ago. I have been discovering them ever since. I hide them, keep them to my self. It is my biggest area of selfishness—time.

 
    Mostly, I am a people person, an extrovert (off the Myers-Briggs chart.) I spend more time writing my books, magazine articles, and blog posts in public than I do writing at home in my studio. After full days of hosting guests to Compassion International and giving them building tours (or training and coaching new tour hosts), do I retreat to my cone of silence? Of course not! I go to a coffee place or cafe and spend a few hours writing and interacting with the staff and other guests. 
     But about once a month I need to say, "Stop the world I want to get off."  Or at least I need to take a break from responsibilities, flashing IM's on my computer, alerts on my iPhone, and the near-constant stream of extra questions, encounters, and new projects that come through my life every day.
    But when I found an extra day, I figured out how to recreate such moments IN BETWEEN real time. These extra days  are completely mine. Here's how it works:
    Whenever I am traveling all the way across country for a speaking engagement I try to travel the day before to arrive, rest, and get the lay of the land. As soon as an engagement is booked I put the date prior into my mental calendar and that's the day I'm headed out.
    While living in San Diego, I was to be traveling to Rhode Island for three days of Creativity training with a successful company. I arrived at the airport, began to unload my luggage curbside, and interact with my favorite skycap. As he took my ticket envelope he noticed I was indeed headed East, "But your ticket isn't going there until tomorrow."
    I tipped my friend, Eddy, reloaded my bags in the car and headed home. Once there I changed into very casual clothes (un-ironed Dockers, t-shirt, denim over shirt, casual sport coat, and favorite hat.) Leaving my luggage packed, I spent the day at a series of diners and bakeries, ending at a tiny wine bar and music club.
    I called no one to say I was still in town and had an extra day, "Let's play." (That would have been my nature.) That day was my first "Joshua Day."
    In the Old Testament (Joshua 10:13) at the height of a great battle Joshua asks God to stop the sun and the moon to give them more daylight to vanquish their enemies. God "stopped the sun." The battle was won.
    We could all use an extra day now and then. I make these extra days for myself. Even half days and one hour mini-vacations in the middle of a busy day. These are my Joshua Days...McNair Days.
    I put a block of time in my calendar that is just for me. It appears as a real appointment and I treated with the same importance. When anyone asks if I am available on Friday, 2 July, I say no, I am busy all day. That is the truth. Even if I choose to spend all day today cleaning my apartment, unpacking boxes in my garage (from my move), organizing my media library, studio, closet, or just going to a few movies (I need to get caught UP), whatever I do is my day.
    During the last decade, living in the Bay area, I frequently sneaked away to Napa Valley for a few days. These mini-vacations were remarkably restorative no matter what activities filled those days and nights.
    Another "trick of time" I employ is to add an extra day onto speaking trips to enjoy a day in downtown Chicago, Seattle, Madrid (Espana), or Vancouver, B.C. McJournal
    Wherever we can find and grab a bit of time that is unencumbered by the usual routine, it is a chance to catch our breath, work on a favorite hobby, art project, further develop a passion, or visit an inspiring gallery or theatrical event.
    This weekend—even if your employer has not given you Friday (7/3) of Monday (7/6) off, grab a few Joshua hours. Tell the spouse, family, roommates, co-workers, "I have an errand to run on the other side of town. You're on your own for dinner. Byeeeee."

    Now that I have blown a junk of my Joshua/McNair Day posting this blog, I gotta go! Time to get to some more creatin'.
    And you?

[ If you have not yet watched the short video below, please have a look. It was created by some talented coworkers here at Compassion Int'l to celebrate our having ONE MILL1ON fully-sponsored children currently in our 25 program countries.]
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