When you come up for air: breathe

It’s been busy. Really busy. But getting home, getting space, getting wine and getting relaxed is like coming up for air. Forgetting the week, focusing on something else is like a breath of fresh air.

My evening. It won’t involve going out. Not tonight. It won’t involve tv or phone calls or messaging. Just a bit of music to relax to and then a little bit of piano. Then another playlist with a glass of wine.

I’m slightly obsessed with playing Beethoven’s moonlight sonata c# minor (yes I know it’s a hashtag but I couldn’t find a symbol for the sharp). I have been since mid December (I may have mentioned it). I’m through the first movement and even giving the second a go. The first is beautiful though. The first is like a soothing lullaby so obsessed or not it completely relaxes me. The daft thing is that, other than Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1, it’s the only thing I can now play on the piano.

I can’t even play the pieces in my beginner books yet. I have set them aside for just now. I bought the piano late last year as an impulse buy (yes I posted about it) and started playing again after not playing since my early teens. I have figured out that learning for learnings sake isn’t relaxing; learning pieces I love hearing is relaxing. So I think I might be doing this backward and starting off complicated.

I’m not sure how I’m managing to fit this in. Work, yoga, gym goals, work, socialising blah blah…all take time. Yoga, music and piano allow me the time to breathe. Step back a little, refocus, come up for air. Like a great holiday in the mountains or on a beach but more achievable on a regular basis. Especially when it’s not yet spring, not yet summer. Taking the time to breathe. My kind of mindfulness. Essentially what mindfulness should be; just taking the time to notice, to breathe, to be. This kind of thing is a necessity in life right?

What’s your breath of fresh air?

Header Photo by Tim Foster on Unsplash

Impulse buy

I made an impulse buy and it isn’t one I will regret. I did the sensible post already. The one (here) that gave my tips for avoiding impulse buys. What the hell though. I wrote that after an impulse buy to remind myself of how to avoid them. But this post is dedicated to spending money on things you don’t really need. Things you want – like immediately. We can all be a little bad with money sometimes…surely?!

A quick build up of ‘What the Hell’

My impulse buys are not always on the spot. The big ones take a little bit of build up. The good advice will tell you that waiting 24 hours (never done it) will work. I consciously ignore good advice when being impulsive. In this case I built up my impulses within, oooh, about 12 hours.

It started with a breakfast meet up with two friends. I casually mentioned that I really needed to get a new laptop as my old one was grinding to a halt. I should note that this was not my impulse buy. An expensive purchase, yes, but definitely budgeted in, saved up and planned for. I (even more casually) threw in a comment about fancying a piano, noting that there was digital piano shop being near (ish) to the location of the apple store.

I said it out loud which is a bad thing for impulses. Basically I was halfway to buying one at that point. I have always fancied a piano but realistically my flat is small, they are expensive to buy and seemingly a pain to maintain. But digital ones are different. They look like a piano and sound exactly like a piano. Even Elton has one (apparently). They also have a full range of keys. I was three quarters sold on the idea by the time these thoughts were running through my head.

Purchase

So after a quick squizz (look) at laptops I tailed it quickly to the piano shop. Cue a very cheery salesman who played lovely piano music to me and got excited when I told him I hadn’t played since I was at school. He was more excited than me and so we pianoed (I know it isn’t a word) around for a while. I looked at one option which in my head seemed sensible. Well it certainly wasn’t as expensive as the expensive ones. It also was in the ‘sale’. More thoughts pushing me to buying and yes I know I know that technically not buying would be the most sensible option.

He tried his best to upsell me to the next model. However being very sensible, kind of….ok not at all really, I kept to my quickly made up budget. No point in kicking the complete backside out of my impulsive spending.

Delivery

The most important thing about impulse buys are how quickly you get them. If I had to wait a week for my piano I would have regained a sense of financial composure. But, nope, it was coming the very next day! The card was out quicker than something…erm…really quick. Sold! I bought a digital piano. I kept the information to myself in a deliciously impulsive secret type of way.

I skipped home (drove) and reorganised my living room. Then I waited. My friend popped round and noted the shuffled furniture whilst he also secretly wondered about the large space it had left. My neighbour got a table I don’t use. I patiently waited. This was on the Wednesday.

Thursday came and so did the delivery man. I was pleased as punch (I am not sure where that saying comes from). A gorgeous digital piano which basically looks like an upright.

Moment of Doubt

I sat down on my sofa and panicked. It looked massive. Is my living room now all piano and no space? Should I ask them to take it back? Should I have spent money on this and not on something sensible (like money towards a new boiler for example)?

These thoughts quickly passed when I dragged in my neighbour and the builders from next door to have a look. They were all excited too. So after a little bit of reassurance I sat down to marvel at how bloody well that digital piano fits into my room with the typically high Edinburgh ceilings. I even applauded myself on how well it matches the rather large old fireplace surround opposite.

Well Worth It

Sometimes impulse buys work out. I have had my new digital piano for just over a week now and have played every day. I have even had a wee music session with my neighbour on guitar. I am pretty basic in skill but I have all my old music looked out and have even admitted to a few people that I bought one. So it was definitely worth it. The boiler can bloody well wait .

Photo by Siamak Mokhtari on Unsplash. I could have used my own photo but this looks exactly the same and I like crediting people who are good at taking photos (although maybe a good camera should be a future impulse buy!)