Roll With It, Baby: Trash Cans, Curveballs, and the Art of Adaptation

Roll With It, Baby: Trash Cans, Curveballs, and the Art of Adaptation

Somebody, somewhere, wrote a grant, and now our city has new trash cans. It sounded like an upgrade. Fancy new trash cans! With wheels! With a lid that doesn’t blow off in the wind! Great, right?

Then they showed up.

These things are huge. They could double as tiny houses or Halloween hideouts. And now, we’re all discovering what happens when a well-intentioned idea meets the real world. They’re too heavy to move easily, and they don’t fit through some backyard gates. Combine that with the fact that they were issued, not optional, and you’ve got people with opinions. Strong ones.

I get it. No one likes being told what to do, especially when it’s inconvenient or disrupts our routines. Even if it’s probably a good idea. Even if it technically is an upgrade. Sometimes “better” doesn’t feel like better right away.

When the Upgrade Feels Like a Downgrade

This isn’t just about trash cans. It’s about all the moments in life when we’re handed something new that’s supposed to make things easier, and it doesn’t. At least not at first.  We take a job that looks perfect on paper but is heavier than expected. We try a new habit and realize it doesn’t quite fit. We step into a new season, hoping for peace, and instead find resistance, clutter, and chaos. The new thing is awkward. It takes more effort than we planned. It makes us miss what used to be.

But change always comes with a learning curve. And the thing that feels like a burden at first might, surprisingly, become a gift. Maybe these trash cans will lead to a community-wide development of upper body strength. Or maybe we’ll start talking to our neighbors more, helping each other roll these monstrosities to the curb.

The Uphill Battle and the Wild Ride Down

Hauling the trash can up the hill of my driveway is quite the feat. Who needs a gym when you’ve got a 96-gallon resistance sled? I’m trying to keep a good attitude, but I’m going to need some serious strength training if this is the new routine. Let’s just call it my weekly weightlifting session. Once it’s empty and I’m heading down the driveway? That’s cardio. The thing takes off, and I have to jog to keep up.

Suddenly, trash day becomes a metaphor for how we handle change, the uphill effort of adjusting to something unfamiliar, the weight we carry before we find our rhythm, and the momentum that builds once we do.

Learning to Roll With It (Cue the Music)

Change is inconvenient. It often comes uninvited. It disrupts what we thought was working. But if we can stop fighting it—if we can stop wasting energy on why it’s happening and start asking how we’re going to respond—that’s where the growth happens. We adjust. We strategize. We make jokes.

And somewhere in the middle of trash day, I found myself humming a familiar Steve Winwood tune:

“You just roll with it, baby /
Come on and just roll with it, baby /
You and me, roll with it, baby /
Hang on and just roll with it, baby, hey.”

I’m pretty sure Steve wasn’t thinking about city-issued trash cans—but honestly, the vibe fits.

When life hands us something awkward and heavy that we didn’t choose? We can resist. We can sulk. We can cling to the way things used to be.

Or, we can roll with it.
With grace, grit, and maybe even a little groove.

I’ll be cheering you on.