Plan for Autumn Drives

“The conveyor belt of life” came across a podcast I was listening to. More often I’ve heard about the “hamster wheel” of life. I suppose they are illustrations that could be used interchangeably, but maybe not and be accurate.

When I was a sixth-grader, I saved my school lunch ice cream money to buy a couple of white mice from a classmate. I thought I was being responsible, so responsible that I didn’t see the need to ask permission. I even negotiated to keep the fruit jar I brought them home in!

That fact was not particularly thrilling to my mother. Pronto, we had to make a trip to Arlan’s (perhaps the St. Louis version of Walmart in the 1960’s) and buy an aquarium and bedding and the waterer and the exercise wheel. I’m not sure what we used as a lid, but I’m pretty sure Mom bought something for that purpose. In retrospect, that was quite an outlay of unbudgeted dollars for a family of five with one breadwinner.

Back to the hamster wheel of life. The mice could decide when and how long they wanted to use it. Though it seemed a mundane apparatus going round and round and getting nowhere, it served two valuable purposes. (1) The tiny rodents got their exercise. (2) The exercise did not require exiting their home. The active pair were in charge of their wheel, 24/7. (It clicked).

The conveyor belts I’m most familiar with are the ones in grocery checkouts and on treadmills. Oh, and the one Lucy and Ethel work from to box chocolates in that hilarious episode. Conveyor belts don’t seem propelled by the objects/people on them

I’ve hopped off the conveyor belt of life from time to time to escape boring routines, to change jobs, to retire. Exiting can be uncomfortable and gaining footing can take a while, but rewards can match or outshine the challenges. Need to hop back on? No problem, but picking a time and place, regaining balance and matching the speed of things is a different set of issues encountered.

LIfe’s hamster wheel can be fun. Lots of activities take practice so attitudes get a workout, too. Learning a new skill, creating in any arena, starting and finishing a project, even traveling, take some stick-to-it-tiveness, but too long at it can diminish the joy and awe. The biggest drawback I see is that the hamster wheel moves with the user. Thinking about it doesn’t make it go. Self-motivation required.

Whichever you might be on right now, be sure to plan enough down time to enjoy this season. We’ve had an unusual summer both in temperature and precipitation, so our autumn could be unusual, too. Green still predominates, so fall colors could be late and the visit short. I don’t want to miss it. “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” (Emily Bronte)