Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is for when you are moving from one
Speaker 1: season of life to another, pass on your treasured tools
Speaker 1: and artifacts to someone heading into it. You will equip
Speaker 1: them for the time ahead and feel a sense of
Speaker 1: connection and shared experience. So I recently read an article
Speaker 1: about a barber who was retiring after nearly fifty years
Speaker 1: of service. She gave her barber's chair to another barber
Speaker 1: on the condition that he never sell it, but that
Speaker 1: when he retires, he passes it along to yet another barber.
Speaker 1: The chair is a symbol of continuity and dedication to
Speaker 1: a job that both barbers clearly love. Imagine how many
Speaker 1: haircuts and how many conversations that chair has seen, and
Speaker 1: we'll see it is a treasured tool for meaningful work,
Speaker 1: passed down from one master to another. When teachers retire,
Speaker 1: they sometimes do something similar by passing on their lesson plans,
Speaker 1: handmade classroom decorations, and class sets of scissors, protractors, and
Speaker 1: the like. The gifts are practically useful to junior colleagues.
Speaker 1: For sure, no one ever has enough scissors but they
Speaker 1: are also a way for a veteran teacher to say
Speaker 1: to a novice teacher, we are in this together. I
Speaker 1: am supplying you, and I am rooting for you and
Speaker 1: the important work ahead. Now. Of course, we all donate
Speaker 1: stuff and pass stuff down. It's good to keep what
Speaker 1: we can out of landfills. But the truly special stuff,
Speaker 1: the truly useful stuff, we don't necessarily want to drop
Speaker 1: off anonymously and hope the thrift store will find the
Speaker 1: right person before selling it a scrap if they can't.
Speaker 1: If something has proved really great to have and long lived,
Speaker 1: it can feel good to personally choose someone who would
Speaker 1: appreciate it and be a bit more ceremonious about it.
Speaker 1: For instance, I have been thinking of that with a
Speaker 1: great little L L Bean fleece toddler snowsuit that I own.
Speaker 1: I remember in the year two thousand when my then
Speaker 1: one year old niece wore it as she and her
Speaker 1: parents said goodbye to me before I left to study
Speaker 1: abroad in Australia. Her brother's wore it, and then her
Speaker 1: parents gave it to me when I had kids. All
Speaker 1: five of my children have now worn it. That niece
Speaker 1: is now a grown up woman with her own apartment.
Speaker 1: The snooky, as we call that snowsuit is still going strong.
Speaker 1: I want to pass this highly useful item along to
Speaker 1: someone who is just starting a family, and we'll appreciate
Speaker 1: how it keeps little ones warm in a drafty house.
Speaker 1: When it comes to work tools, passing things along to
Speaker 1: the right person can be part of our legacy. A
Speaker 1: handyman might pass along his best gear. A chef might
Speaker 1: bequeath her knives. Now. I know many of us are
Speaker 1: knowledge workers with limited physical tools, but I have been
Speaker 1: the recipient of two great copies of Shakespeare's collected works
Speaker 1: and a useful copy of Drunken Whites the Elements of Style.
Speaker 1: There are always things we can pass along. Even that
Speaker 1: lime green stapler you brought in a bright color in
Speaker 1: order to keep people from stealing it once you're leaving
Speaker 1: a particular workplace, why not pass it on to the
Speaker 1: colleague who is always eyeing it. Now, to be clear,
Speaker 1: I am talking about treasured tools. I am sure we
Speaker 1: have all been the recipient of someone else's stuff that
Speaker 1: they didn't really want, and they fooled themselves into thinking
Speaker 1: someone else would want it. Nope, no one wants your
Speaker 1: half filled notebooks. Those hand me down clothes that are
Speaker 1: dirty and falling apart aren't gonna last through the next kid.
Speaker 1: If someone asks for them, that's great, but don't voice
Speaker 1: them on anyone. Instead, I am talking about passing on
Speaker 1: items that have been personally significant to you and will
Speaker 1: be significant to those who come after you. It is
Speaker 1: good for things that can have a useful life to
Speaker 1: continue having a useful life. And if the passing on
Speaker 1: is done ceremoniously, it can be a real moment to
Speaker 1: share wisdom and experiences and bring a sense of closure
Speaker 1: when a chapter of life is done. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can say me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b the number
Speaker 1: four then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
Speaker 1: me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart
Speaker 1: media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: i heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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