The first is my iPad.
It’s become my creative hub — writing, drawing, sketching ideas while I’m parked on the side of the road. Sometimes I’ll be mid-delivery and a thought hits me. I don’t want to lose it. The iPad lets me capture it immediately.
Creativity isn’t just expression for me. It’s decompression.
I’ve dealt with depression for a long time, and rumination is my enemy — looping around the same problems, the same thoughts. When I create, the loop breaks. The energy redirects.
The iPad with the keyboard floating, limited screen space, a bit of friction — that’s good for me. I can’t open a million things at once. I can split apps, but there’s a limit. That limitation forces focus.
It isolates the task.
That’s stability.
The second is my 2000 GMC van.
That van is my workhorse. It’s how I move through Los Angeles. It carries plastic bags, paper bags, merchandise. It loads, unloads, delivers. It feeds me.
It forces me into the world.
It makes me negotiate even when I’m socially awkward. It puts me face to face with street vendors who are out there at 6 a.m., setting up, grinding until 9 or 10 p.m., cleaning up, surviving.
The van is independence.
If I take care of it, it takes care of me.
The third is Simba.
My orange cat.
He doesn’t care about money, productivity, or plans. He wants food, warmth, and sometimes to knead on my lap. When I get home, he centers me. When I go to bed late, he curls up next to me and I wake up to a purr.
He’s simple.
And being around something simple is good when you’re internally hectic.
These three aren’t luxuries.
They’re anchors.
Objects aren’t just objects to me — they’re tools.
And I’ve learned that the right tools don’t make life easy…
They make movement possible.
Reader question:
What three tools — not luxuries, but real tools — help you move forward in your life right now?
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