Farewell to My Lovely Desk

I have had this desk for almost 20 years.  There is really nothing special about it.  It is a Government Issue piece of furniture.  It is covered in fake wood grain plastic over pressboard.  None-the-less, I am sorry to be saying goodbye to it.  It is familiar and functional.   No reason to give it up based on its characteristics, save one.  I have to sit at it.

I am moving once again, and as I always do when I have to pack up my things, I have been thinking.  I have shed some paper, as I always do.  It is amazing how much I have reduced my reliance on paper over the past 5 years.  I did not even fill a single recycling bin this time—that has never happened.  I no longer have a filing cabinet, and I no longer need the drawers in the desk I am saying good-bye to.  But this move is the first time that I have moved at work since I down-sized my house.  That process was about far more than moving from a big house to a smaller house.  It was a reflective process—what do I want in my life?  What are my priorities now that most of my children have moved out?  So it is a natural consequence that this whole process of reassessment would bleed into my work life.  I had been thinking for quite some time that I would like to try a standing desk.  I spend 6 or more hours a day when I am at work sitting down, and despite an hour of exercise outside of work, that is just not enough time spent on my feet each day.  What with this thing and that, being more active outside of work is just not a sustainable and realistic option right now, so the alternative is to be more active while I am actually at work.  A standing desk would allow for that with a minimum of fuss.  My move is giving me the perfect opportunity to make that change.  So long, farewell , auf weidersehen, goodbye to my old desk.  Welcome in the desk that allows me not to have a ‘desk job’.