The Magical Mystical Handbag of a Woman

As a woman, I am just as guilty as the next……. If the world were to end tomorrow – I’m sure I would be able to feed, water and cater for the needs of at least 10 human beings, all from the confines of my overweight, over-sized handbag!

In theory this might be great but……….. it leaves many women with sore backs, arms and necks, simply because they do carry too much ‘stuff’ around on a daily basis.

Let’s be honest, let’s be minimalist. We carry far too much around and it is affecting our health.

Hands up – who carries, make-up, pen/s, notepad, book, diary, phone, headache tablets, chocolate (for a quick pick-me-up) This can weigh almost 2kilos. Bet you never thought of that.

Add to that keys, wallet and ‘other’ stuff and you are carrying the weight of small newborn child on one half of your body.

This affects the muscles in your neck as the weight pulls down on your shoulder, it can compress the ribs on the side you carry your bag. It can harm the tendons and muscles in your arm if you prefer to carry the bag over your arm. This can affect the way you walk, it can cause headaches and muscle aches, that would not occur if you didn’t carry this much weight around.

If you are fortunate enough to own a mini-PC, you know the type less than 30cm/12” in length, don’t go adding that to the burden, get yourself a slim-line back pack to take that weight.

If you have children, it is tempting to add their ‘stuff’ to your bag also, you think it is easier than taking two bags to the same location. Do get a second bag for the kids’ stuff, because as sure as there is day and night, you never quite take all the stuff out when you get back home, thus adding more weight to your bag.

So in closing, think of these things:-
1. Do you really need such a big bag?
2. Get a backpack for mini-PC’s
3. Get a 2nd bag for the kids’ ‘stuff’
4. Make a regular thing of checking what is actually in your bag and be critical
5. Consider a stylish backpack, instead of a ‘handbag’
6. If your shoulder, arms, neck or back are sore – get it checked out
7. If you can manage it – use a small/er bag as often as possible

Good luck and remember – you were only given 1 body to last a life-time!