Despite my crazy work schedule, Jess and I have been trying to cook more. And, living on the Upper West Side, we’re lucky to have a slew of good grocery stores – Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Fairway, etc. – nearby. Or, at least, sort of nearby. While a seven to ten block walk seems relatively quick on the way over, hoofing back ladened with armfuls of heavy bags feels decidedly less so.

At one point a year or two back, Jess did the sensible thing, and purchased a rolling grocery cart. But, in New York, the ability to stagger along with a half-dozen full bags in your hands is an unspoken point of pride. For the most part, you just don’t see anyone below the age of 80 rolling their groceries home.

So, each shopping trip, I’ve let pride get the best of me. I do head out with an empty Go Ruck GR1 backpack, which makes it far easier to handle a case or two of seltzer and other particularly weighty items. And, having switched entirely to reusable bags for the sake of the environment (we’re now even using reusable produce bags, to avoid the piles of plastic we otherwise return home with and quickly discard), I’ve been pleased to discover that totes both hold more (reducing total bag count) and have handles long enough to carry (only semi-painfully) over your shoulders. All of which has made even large, food-for-the-entire-week shops substantially more feasible.

Still, those walks home are inevitably some of my toughest workouts each week. I’ve found I count down the blocks remaining each time I cross a street along the way, so I can will myself the full distance one small chunk at a time.

Which is why, this week, I finally sucked it up, suppressed my ego, and rolled the cart along when we headed to Whole Foods on Sunday. And, frankly, I’m glad I did. Even with its large capacity, we still completely filled two additional totes. And though the cart itself was heavy to drag behind me, and navigating foot traffic, street construction, and winter puddles was a bit of a challenge, it still made for a wildly easier trip.

So, going forward, the cart it is. I’d always heard one advantage of advancing age is caring increasingly little about what everyone else thinks of you. Turns out, for me at least, that’s true. For better or worse, it seems I’m ready to roll.