The Spinning of Plates


I have a lot of plates I try to keep spinning. I could list them all, but then you'd feel sorry for me and it would be all awkward and stuff, so let's just slap the vague label of "HAS MANY PLATES" on my forehead and call it good.

Sometimes, I just spin one at a time. I get hyper-focused and obsessive like that. And when I do, that plate spins CRAZY AWESOME FAST, making me feel . . . exhilarated. Because I'm so damn good at that one thing that, for a little while, I can actually forget the huge stack of dusty, neglected plates that I kicked under my metaphorical bed when no one was looking.

But life is better when I've got a lot of plates on the go at once. Because while I'm not doing perfectly at any one thing, at least there are fewer plates gathering dust, and fewer people I'm disappointing. My mental To Do List shrinks a little and the boulder-heavy weight on my chest lessens for a little while. The more plates I spin, the more I can breathe.

I've had a lot of reason to think about these plates of mine lately, and which ones matter most to me. WHO matters most to me. And I realized that there are people in my life who step up to my line of wobbly, spinning plates and say, "Here. Let me give this one a few spins." Or, "Kim, I think you need to put this one down. This plate has jagged edges and spinning it is hurting you."

When I think about the people in my life who do this for me, I realize there's one plate that NEVER stops spinning. It's the shiniest plate of them all, without a speck of dust on it. It's the plate that carries my love for the people who matter most, and to whom I matter most. It's my mutual affection plate. My kindred-spirit plate. My you-know-me-soul-deep-and-haven't-run-away-yet plate. My always-here-for you plate.

There are some plates that are exhausting to keep spinning (laundry, being nice to jerky people, wearing real pants, that kind of thing). But my "always plate" never wears me out, because I never have to spin it. It's self-sustaining, because of all the AMAZING people who sustain ME.

I'm so full of gratitude right now that it's pushing liquid gratitude out of my eyes. For serious.

May your "always plate" always be full.

Love,
Kim


6 comments:

  1. I threw the "real pants" plate out the window and laughed when it smashed in a million tiny pieces all over the hard, hard ground. Muahaha!

    I <3 this post and I <3 you! You are awesome!! :D

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  2. thank you for this . . . been feeling a little lonely lately, and this cheered me up! keep on spinning, plate girl! ;)

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  3. This is lovely. I have the same problem with obsessive plates (usually writing related). But I'm saner--and a better writer--when I remember to make times for the things that are more important but less immediately pressing.

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  4. Kindred-spirits are pretty awesome. May you always have an abundance of them in your life.

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  5. Kim... you're beautiful. And I love your words. That is all. :)

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