Losing My Phone Brought Me Peace

Phone, wallet, keys. It’s the three essential items I double check I have every time I leave the house. We all do. Adam Sandler even wrote a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9N6_Tj9u2U" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">song</a> about it. It’s all one really needs to survive the day. For me however, there’s also a slew of other random items I pack with my bag before heading out, such as: <ol> <li>A book to read on the bus.</li> <li>A portable phone charger because I’ll use up my battery scrolling social media instead of reading the book.</li> <li>A pen.</li> <li>Another pen because I lost the other one.</li> <li>Mints. Because it seems everyone is in need of a mint, and I never want to be the person someone says not subtly to, “Do you need a mint?”</li> <li>Small notebook. This is meant to be a journal for thoughts, but it is better used for tearing out a piece of paper to make a grocery list.</li> <li>Sunglasses. A cheap pair because I will lose it along with my pens.</li> <li>Headphones. Not wireless ear buds. Wired because I want people to notice that I’m wearing headphones so they don’t attempt to talk to me.</li> <li>Lint roller. I have carried this with me for years in hopes of one day coming to someone’s rescue who is desperately in need of removing pet hair, but I have yet to be that hero.</li> <li>A receipt from last week because I wanted to remember the bartender’s name who made my drinks extra strong.</li> </ol> It’s a lot to carry, but as long as I have the basic three, I don’t worry. Because losing any of those three essentials would leave me in a state of anxiety and tremendous grief. <a href="https://iamryanredmond.medium.com/losing-my-phone-brought-me-peace-626d811183b">Learn More</a>