As spring lurks just around the corner, I am starting to get back in shape. This is a long process, but only partly because I have allowed my body to puddingfy over the winter months. The primary reason it takes so long to get in shape every spring is that I have to endure three weeks of internal conversation before I can manage to put my sneakers on. First, I have to believe that it's possible to make what has gone soft less spongy. Second, I have to convince myself that the pain will be fleeting. Third, I have to believe it matters enough to put off something else and go run. This is an annual process. So far as I can tell, I've managed to carry precisely no lessons from one year to the next, which is how this comes as a surprise every March: My body is happier when it's in shape. It wants to be in shape, wakes up ready to run the day after the first escape, saying, "This is more like it..." My body pays me back when I invest just a little bit of exercise in it.
Guess where this analogy is headed? Right. My house is willing to be efficient. In fact, it wants to be. I had in my head that I was attacking my house, taking it on, whipping it into shape. Doing battle. But when I put rope caulk on my windows, they ceased their whistling at night and stopped sending angry whippets of chill. Some how, the skirt we tapped on the front door helps the door close more contentedly. And the CFLs we have scattered throughout the house provide soothing soft light. It makes sense that my boiler doesn't want to churn out heat just to feel it wash out the chimney. I can imagine a sigh of relief when we manage to close the flu and insulate the attic.
Like me, my electronics appear to prefer true sleep to fake sleep, and function better when they get it. Ever since I rigged up my house with Smart Power strips, I have felt a more peaceful rest take hold. I have wrestled down the energy vampires. When I flick the switch, our mighty entertainment sleeps like Fezzik after his fall to the Man in Black in The Princess Bride, and wakes up friendlier for it. My house, it turns out, wants to be efficient. It's game. It's been waiting for me to notice.
Chances are, your house is willing to be in shape, too. Once you take that first little step toward energy efficient bulbs or a smart power strip, you'll walk in and feel more warmly welcomed. Less frenetic. Less wasteful. Really. It is possible. It does matter. And unlike that first pitiful run, it won't hurt a bit. I could go on and on, but I promised myself I'd exercise again today. See you out there.
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