Waste those "Ups"

When I was little (and truth be told, to this day), anytime I would get up from the table after a meal, my mom would say, "Don't waste an up!" and hand them her glass to fill with water or her plate to take to the sink. If I was going to my room, she'd say, "Don't waste an up" and hand me my laundry to take with me. (BTW, my sister-in-law sees it for what it is, and calls it "Waiting on your mom hand and foot." But, as a kid, I just thought we were being efficient.)

I got very good at being efficient with my movements. Today, when I come home from the grocery store, I don't take multiple trips to bring the bags in. I grab them all at once; I would rather load myself up than to take multiple trips. At work, I hold all the sensitive papers in a single pile to take with me to the burn barrel at one time at the end of the day - because it is on my way out. I don't go to the printer for every little print, I wait until after I've printed multiple documents. If I've forgotten to bring a napkin out when I am eating, and my husband is still in the kitchen, I ask him to bring me one. But all these little "efficiencies" are robbing me of activity and maintaining my sedentary lifestyle.

So, I've started practicing inefficiency. I no longer wait for the end of the day to take stuff to the shred box/burn barrel - I run up and down those stairs when something needs to go there. I admit: I am still working on going to the printer multiple times. And every time I hear my mother's admonition in my head "Don't waste an up", I get a little smug and waste a little more. And the big doozy that happens more and more often these days: I no longer get annoyed when I walk in a room and get there and have forgotten why I came. I smile and consider it another opportunity for activity. I am PLEASED to walk back to where I started, remember what I wanted and head back to the other room again.