60 Seconds Load-Bearing Walls of Your Life

Episode Notes

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington, this is 60 Seconds.

This old house I bought needed a lot of love. It was little more than a vacation home for an elderly couple escaping the Arizona summer heat. The rooms were weirdly configured, the double-hung windows small. I am fond of the sound of a sledge hammer crunching through drywall. But which walls could come down? Which windows could be enlarged?

It depends. Which are the load bearing walls? They’re the active structural elements of the house. They bear the weight of the floors and ceilings and roof and other walls conducting all that weight to a foundation. Once you identify them you can remove an entry wall, a decorative partition, blow open a wall or two for windows, rearrange rooms. But! You must be sure. Or it all comes crashing down.

I’m wondering about the load-bearing walls in my own life. What holds me up? Where are the partitions I don’t need? Where can I blow open a wall in my life, add big windows that bring in more light and fresh air? What about the foundation of my life? Are there cracks? Is something shifting? Or am I solid as a mountain?

And, what about you? Where are the load bearing walls in your life? How are you bearing up, what makes that possible, and where are you ready to let it all go?

Contributors

Diane F. Wyzga, Podcaster, StoryArtist, Founder Engaged Storyism®