Excess Baggage

Handbag. Clutch. Purse. Satchel. Tote.

Most women carry at least one of these items around with them on a daily basis.

And usually I’m one of them. Heck, usually I cart around two – a cute little satchel with a shoulder strap and a bigger cloth bag for all the bits and pieces that don’t fit into the satchel.

At the moment, however, I’m going through a bag-free period.

This is more out of necessity than design as I’ve managed to completely mess up my left shoulder.

It’s been playing up for years and I’ve simply been ignoring it.

Except now I can’t ignore it as it’s really really painful and the messed up muscles are causing a fairly nasty and permanent tension headache at the base of my skull.

But I really don’t deserve any sympathy, as this is all self-inflicted!

Recently, as I complained – again – about my poor, painful shoulder, I asked my boyfriend how I could fix the problem. Now, I didn’t really want him to give me solutions. I just wanted sympathy, and possibly some chocolate. But, being both a practical science-type, and a man, the boy sagely pointed in the direction of my bags.

“It would help a lot if you didn’t cart so much stuff around with you every day. If you really need all that stuff then you should think about getting a rucksack that you can carry on both shoulders.”

What?!

What is this crazy talk?!

Stuff. Stuff. It’s not stuff. These are absolute essentials that I must have with me at all times.

And a rucksack. Seriously? Have we wandered back to my high school years by mistake?

Annoyed, and lacking chocolate, I hefted both bags upstairs with me, determined to prove to the boy that I simply couldn’t give up my essential kit.

Now, in my defense, the satchel did contain some must-have items for the busy woman-about-London-town:

Oyster card

Debit cards

House keys

i-phone and headphones

Cash

However, it also contained the following:

-3 small tubes of cold sore cream (yes, cold sores are annoying, but one tube would probably do!)

-3 small tubes of mouth ulcer gel (again, probably overkill to have 3)

-2 empty packets of throat lozenges (useful)

-receipts. Lots and lots of receipts just stuffed into various pockets. Now, I’m a bit pedantic about keeping receipts but really, what use is the receipt for a sandwich I bought two months ago??

-4 different lip-balms. 2 of these were completely empty. 1 is too sticky to be used (it leads to the oh-so-attractive hair-stuck-to-lips look). 1 I actually like and use every day.

-handcream

-a selection of mismatched earrings (nope, I’ve no idea why)

-hankies. Many, many hankies. I’d like to say they were all clean and unused but that would be a lie.

-the remnants of a granola bar that was definitely several weeks old (yuk!)

-e-reader that hadn’t been charged in weeks and wouldn’t actually open

The bigger cloth bag contained an even more random selection of bits and pieces:

-lots of sports gear in various states of cleanliness (mainly tending toward the ‘wash-me-please’ end of the spectrum)

- a pair of legwarmers (for those moments when you just have to get your 80s vibe on and re-enact Fame, obviously)

- a mini make-up counter(foundation, powders, concealers, lipsticks, mascara). I can’t actually remember the last time I could be bothered to go and touch up my make-up at work, and I never wear lipstick so I’m not sure why I decided to cart around 3 different shades.

-A very beaten-up and dog-eared book that I finished reading ages ago

-Two hairbrushes and a variety of baubles, hair grips and hairbands. All a bit pointless given that 99% of the time, I wear my hair down.

And so I decided to conduct a little experiment. Could I go bag-free for a week? Could I pare down all of the above bits and pieces to the bare necessities?

Fortunately, it’s still pretty darn wintery here in the UK and so I’m still wearing my giant quilt-like coat of many pockets. On a cold and overcast February morning, I set off to the tube station without any bags. In one pocket I had my credit cards, Oyster card and keys. In another pocket I had my phone and headphones, and in a third pocket I stashed a solitary hanky and the lipbalm that I actually use every day.

I had made some advance preparations the day before and there is now a little make-up bag on my desk at work, filled with bits and bobs such as a mini-hairbrush, concealer (for those days when my insomnia makes me look like a zombie), spare pair of tights etc...

The first day was odd. I constantly felt as if something was missing, as if someone had snatched my bag. I also felt weirdly light and realized that my bags were much heavier that I had previously thought.

Not having any bags also makes you really aware of the fact that they are everywhere. Most people – women and men – are carrying some sort of bag. And yes, women are definitely more laden with bags, with most carrying at least two (and often carting around a few more plastic bags crammed with shopping just for good measure).

One week on and I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to go back to my bag-full ways! It’s lovely to be able to walk around without excess weight dragging on my shoulder. There’s a very nice sense of freedom that comes with getting rid of excess stuff that I didn’t really ever use. And, although my shoulder isn’t fixed (I didn’t think it would be – I have many years of bag-abuse to make up for!), the nasty tension headache has almost vanished. Yes, maybe it has simply went away of its own accord, but I do think it’s been helped along by the fact that my back and shoulder are free of excess baggage and I’m no longer holding one side of my body rigid to make sure my bag straps don’t slip off!

No, it’s not for everyone. I realize I’m in a lucky position as I can get through my day with a pretty small amount of stuff. For example, if you need to take regular medication then a bag is probably necessary (fortunately, this doesn’t apply to me). And if you have a baby or small child then again a bag – or two – is likely to be a necessity (and again, fortunately, this doesn’t apply to me!). And, of course, if the UK actually has a summer this year, it will be tricky to get away without a small bag, as most of my summer jackets are pocket-free zones! So I might need to look into that rucksack idea after all!

 

A Quirky Update!

February. What, already? Okay, so my New Year’s resolution to update my blog on a weekly basis hasn’t really worked out so far! But, in my defence, January was one of the most manic months I’ve ever experienced.

Having just survived my first ever Christmas-hosting experience (really not in a hurry to do that again!), I then finished at my old job on 8^th January and, after an incredibly restorative break of, um, one whole day, I started my new job in London*. Oh, and my boyfriend and I moved house from Cambridge to London on 5^th January. All in all, it was a hectic start to 2013.

So, after a month in London and almost a month in the new job, how are things shaping up? [Warning: the next sentence contains very un-Lauren-like levels of positivity!]

London is fabulous and the new job…well, it’s pretty great too! Apologies if this is all a bit smug but large chunks of 2012 were pretty rubbish for me both personally and professionally, so a happy start to 2013 is a welcome change.

So, how did this all start anyway? Well, it was a case of a perfect storm. First of all, in the middle of last year, my boyfriend was offered a wonderful job opportunity in London. He would start in October 2012. And this wasn’t just any job. This was a stunning promotion, a proper ‘excuse me, while I just leap up the career ladder’ moment. We had only recently got back together after a difficult few months and his amazing new opportunity threw into sharp relief the fact that I really was dragging my heels on the job front.

I think I was in a really common situation. I didn’t hate my job. I didn’t hate my colleagues. I had been there for over three years and I knew how things worked. It was a comfy position to be in. But isn’t being comfortable sometimes just a euphemism for stagnating? In my case, yes, it was. I was pretty sure that I was in the right industry (publishing), but was I really in the right area (academic)? As 2012 ticked on, various bits and pieces happened that made me feel that no, this really wasn’t the ideal job for me. But change is hard and I could always come up with plenty of excuses not to start applying for something new:

-“We’re in a recession. There aren’t any jobs. It would be madness to give up an established career.”

-“I only know how to work in academic publishing. They won’t want to hire me to work for a trade house. They’ll think I can only work with academics on textbooks. There’s no point in even applying.”

-“I’ve just been asked to cover a period of maternity leave. I can’t leave now – people would just be left in the lurch.”

However, as some fabulous friends pointed out, these weren’t actually very good excuses:

-“Actually, there are jobs out there. Not a lot of jobs, but a few publishing gigs are definitely available. There’ll be a lot of competition but if you don’t apply, you definitely have no chance.”

-“Maybe. Maybe all the trade-publishing houses won’t want you. Maybe some of them won’t want to employ you. Maybe one of them will – and you really only need one! But if you don’t apply, you definitely have no chance.”

-“There will never be a perfect time to leave your current job. If you’re not covering maternity leave, you’ll be working on a super-important project, or preparing to travel to a busy conference. There will always be an excuse to stay put.”

And so, slowly, I started sending out applications. Evenings were spent putting together cover letters and updating my CV. I developed a minor fixation with checking the Guardian jobs website, and a slightly more serious obsession with the jobs section of the Bookseller.

As any other job-hunters will know, most of my applications received absolutely no response. Nothing. Nada. Not even a ‘thanks for sending in your application’ or ‘thanks but no thanks.’ So even though you know perfectly well that you’ve been unsuccessful, the lack of response gives you just that teeny tiny spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, you might get an interview.

With pretty much a total lack of response, I think I was permanently disheartened for several months. October 2012 rolled around and my boyfriend started his new job, commuting back and forth to London everyday. There were a few weeks when the job hunt slowed, when there didn’t seem to be any new openings.

And then.

A tiny advert in the Bookseller. A small publisher. Looking for a commissioning editor to work on their mind, body and spirit list. Ho hum. Mind, body and spirit. This was definitely my area. Out came the cover letter and out went the usual standard phrases about my academic background, my academic publishing experience. In went the fact that I love yoga, that I’m fascinated by astrology, that I own a scary amount of self-help books.

Click send.

The next day I was invited for an interview.

My interviewers were really friendly. We talked about different yoga styles. We talked about astrology. We discussed cranio-sacral therapy and hypnotherapy. My academic background wasn’t mentioned at all. 

They asked me what I knew about trade publishing. I said not a lot.

They asked me if I had experience using any of their design systems. I said no.

Then we talked about yoga again.

Later that day, I got the job.

I’ve been here for just over a month. I work in a lovely open-plan office in central London. I have absolutely loads to learn as very little about my previous job has prepared me for my new role. Fortunately, I have very patient colleagues who are showing me the ropes and bearing with me as I slowly find my feet.

Over the past month, I’ve also found that the little grey cloud of negativity that I’d been trailing around for a large part of 2012 has disappeared. I’m starting to remember that actually, I’m not a negative person. Sarcastic? Yes, definitely. Cynical? Occasionally. But negative? Well, not so much. It’s amazing what a fresh start and doing something that you really love can do!

Which isn’t to say it’s all flowers and rainbows here in London town. I miss my friends in Cambridge loads and I don’t really know anyone in my new area. I miss my 15 minute cycle to work, which has been replaced by almost an hour each way of rush-hour on the tube (which, by the way, is my least favorite thing about London at the moment, and probably will get its own post on here at some point!).

So that’s a little update on all things QQ at the moment!

Yep, change is daunting. Yep, it’s very odd to go from knowing all the ins and outs of your job to knowing very little and being the new girl. But overall, taking a bit of a leap in the dark and changing direction is turning out to be a very good decision!

And I promise that the next post will be a return to your regularly scheduled dose of snarkiness (maybe!).

*No, this really wasn’t the plan and obviously a longer break between jobs would have been fantastic, however a combination of two month’s notice plus no annual leave added up to a stupidly stressful turnaround!