Neglected Structures & Overgrown Places #28 — Going Nowhere Fast

Two-wheeled trailer

This two-wheeled trailer, piled high with household rejects, has been parked at the side of a road for a week.

To me, it’s symbolic of life and all the psychological dross we accumulate over the years. How often do we find ourselves saying “I’ve turned over a new leaf”, to meet with speedy failure? We do the equivalent of loading our unwanted behaviour in a trailer, but can’t find the willpower or motivation to drive it away and dump it for good on the rubbish tip.

For instance, who really wants to hang on to things below?

  • a green sofa (envy)
  • black rubbish sacks (black dog moods)
  • broom handles (unrealistic notions of looking like a stick-thin model)
  • white doors without handles (false notions that the grass is greener on the other side)
  • old cupboards (constant worrying about family skeletons)

My trailer would contain old shoes, as I need to walk taller with a confident spring in my step, instead of thinking that great success happens to other people.

What would your trailer contain, and would you have the willpower to drive it away?

Author: Sarah Potter Writes

Sarah is a British eccentric who writes offbeat fiction, haiku and tanka poetry. When stuck for words, she sketches or paints instead. She's into nature conservation, sustainability, gardening, dogs, natural health, and reading. Her sociability is something that happens in short bursts with long breathing spaces in between.

28 thoughts on “Neglected Structures & Overgrown Places #28 — Going Nowhere Fast”

  1. I enjoyed the photo and your musings, Sarah. I think I’ll hang onto my shoes, but perhaps I should chuck in all the hair products I have which promise to give me thick and lustrous locks, and just be grateful for what I have. 😀

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    1. Your hair looks just fine to me, from your photos. Sylvia 🙂 I’ve come to the conclusion that the only solution to my frizzy hair is olive oil with lavender essence and organic aloe vera shampoo and conditioner. All the other bottles of products I’ve rejected have found their way to other people.

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      1. OH that’s fascinating…i too have frizzy hair…I’ve had luck using olive oil too, and taking my myself and my hair into a sauna…it was soft lustrous and NOT frizzy! There’s another thing we have in common.

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      2. Olive oil is brilliant. I massage a decent amount into my hair before washing and then a very tiny amount on to it before drying it. Any shampoo that makes my hair squeak as I rinse it out, will cause it to frizz when dry, whatever claims are made on the bottle about sleek and smooth locks. The olive oil stops the squeak and therefore the frizz!

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    1. I know what you mean about family albums. In order to resist the temptation of looking at old photos and dragging myself backwards into areas I’d rather not revisit, my albums are up in the attic. And yet, I still can’t bring myself to get rid of them.

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  4. How fascinating…white doors without handles….hanging onto the past. Dear me, I have one of those, in my garage! Someone gave it to me and altho I didn’t want to use it on renos, he left it anyway! I have lots of bricks, that came with the house when i bought it…is that significant?

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    1. I think that piles of unused bricks indicate great intentions of building extensions, walls, and garden features that have never come to fruition. My husband keeps a small pile of bricks but I’ve forgotten what he was intending to do with them after ten years!

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  5. What a fascinating analogy you have made here Sarah. Oh I can so relate about the old shoes, for the very same reasons you state. You have made me look at the things we cling onto with new eyes. I gave up making new year’s resolutions years ago, knowing I would never keep to them, but instead try to think I can turn over a new leaf on a daily basis. But still the old habits die hard and the self-doubt and procrastination linger. Time to take that old trailer to the dump and get rid of those old black sacks once and for all and be done with it! Let’s start with tomorrow… 🙂

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    1. I think that New Year’s resolutions should be achievable small goals, worded in the positive rather than the negative. If the goals are too large and I think of them as something I must give up (instant martyr mode) rather than something I’ll take up with sustainable enthusiasm, then I’m destined to fail before I start.

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  6. But you might never know when you will find the match to those old sox and single earrings. and why do today what you can put off till tomorrow anyway is my motto. and my photo albums are sacrosanct. oh drat New years resolution time again!!

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    1. Naomi, thanks. I had fun with that 🙂 And having read this comment after your comment on Neglected Structures & Overgrown Places #29, I realise that you don’t really have a “model” skeleton in your cupboard!

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      1. Ha ha! No such thing as a model skeleton in the closet, or it would be proudly displayed on the mantel! Mine is plastic, hangs on a hook inside of the closet, along with the umbrellas and hats, is about three feet tall, and dressed in a little outfit that one of Bea’s dolls used to wear.

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