It’s a small but mighty little book. It’s called “ Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life & Living ” and it’s by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (known best for the 5 stages of grieving) and David Kessler. This book has impacted my life in some powerful and practical ways. I highly recommend it.  

The book really is simple and profound. It is based on the wisdom from people who are dying. Choices they would make differently looking back. What they finally figured out really matters. 

Today’s blog may not be quite so profound. I’m going to talk about lessons my trailer has taught me in 2016. Grab a coffee!  

Having just spent some holiday time away from the trailer, it had Bill and I reflecting on it. We measured it last month. As we work on design for other spaces, I’m trying to get a better feel for square footage. We live in 240 square feet. We notice that more in this cooler weather when being outdoors all day is not appealing. 

What is our trailer teaching us? This feels like lessons for home but they apply equally at work! 

1. Put stuff away a.s.a.p.! Most of our spaces do double duty. The biggest “counter space” we have is when we put the lid down over the stove. Our table is also our office and also where our dishes dry.  

2. Notice what you use and what you don’t use.  Clothes, dishes, books, linens, all of it seems to be fun to own even if we never use it. That is true but really silly. If you have not used something in a while either pass it on or start using it! Since our space is limited we regularly do this so that what we actually need is handy. 

3. Good meals take good planning. I can pull a meal together out of whatever I happen to have in the fridge and cupboard. We have a very small fridge and freezer so planning is critical. It’s really true for other things in life too. Allowing for some strategic thinking time results in a much different experience! 

4. Get creative when something isn’t working. This life is new to us. As a result we have had numerous episodes where we lost power. We lost our water supply when it got really cold. We asked many people for opinions and help. Reach out, brainstorm, research! Often we aren’t stuck as dramatically and we just put up with “good enough”.  

5. The K.I.S.S. principle really is smart.  Fewer dishes, fewer items of clothing, fewer books, fewer everything, this helps our lives and we really don’t suffer for it! It results in less time spent looking for things, less time making decisions. There’s something to it! Less cleaning time and more time to relax!  

So, do I look forward to a bigger space later this year? Yes. But 800 square feet sounds enormous right now. And I really hope that I bring with me the lessons I’m learning from my trailer! 

Until next week,  

Marilyn 

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Marilyn Orr is a Professional Certified Coach, who, through her coaching business “ Capacity Building Coaching ”, thrives on building both personal and organization capacity through leadership coaching and development.