Originally featured on Sipping Sunshine March 18, 2020
It is March and you know what that means; we are all on a quarantine. No, but seriously, I hope everyone is doing well and is safe. If you can help it, please stay away from large crowds and wash your hands (and backs and legs and feet). It is getting real out here and not enough people are taking this pandemic seriously. Try to follow all of your local and statewide mandates and recommendations. You are not only protecting yourself but all of the people around you who may or may not have compromised/underdeveloped immune systems. Anyways, back to our scheduled broadcast.
Spring is finally approaching and it is time to clean. In the past I have written about: how I learned to let things go, reconciling with a childhood rivalry, childhood trauma, and my fear of commitment. Now it is time I continue on a path to clearing out what I have grown past. In this season, we are cleaning out all of the old baggage and things that no longer serve us.
How are we going to do that?
If you are past fed up and have been working on yourself, it is simple: cut it off. With me, I have been working on myself for almost two years. Yes, I know it sounds like a long time, but it honestly has gone by so quickly. I made a pledge to myself and stuck to it for the most part. Toxic parts of me still creep out, but I am a work in progress (as are most of us).
During my time of healing and working on my issues, I have cut a lot of things out and disconnected some people’s access to my energy. I used to allow unlimited access to my time and energy, only to be left with emptiness. Once I decided I was tired of the ways I was feeling, I cut it off and restructured how I wanted my relationships with people to be.
What is the benefit of “cutting it off” or cleaning out old baggage?
Well, spring cleaning is not just about getting rid of the old, it is about making room for the new. Use this as a chance to set the stage or tone to invite in a new blessing, risk (on yourself), or opportunity. I have changed a lot, and with those changes it has allowed me to: get a job, foster better relationships with people around me, and focus on leading a more positive, fulfilling life.
But as I mentioned previously, I still struggle. For transparency, I am (still) actively working on forgiving myself for things I have done or said in the past, the ways I may have overreacted or didn’t speak up when I should have. I am randomly reminded of things that may have happened a ten or even 20 years ago. Again, old baggage. Clearing this out and forgiving myself will provide me with the space for something more, something positive, something purposeful.
Am I really ready to release?
That is an honest and fair way to feel. Not everyone is ready to clean. I am sure most of us who decided to release and cut off have felt the same way in the beginning. You feel unprepared and don’t know how you are going to make the space. You are unsure on what baggage to even get rid of first. You kind of have to figure out for yourself what is the most pressing thing and just pick which piece of luggage is going on the curb. By no means do you have to clean everything out at once. I didn’t even do that. Instead, set your own pace. If you start with a shirt then some socks, so be it.
It is all a process.
If there is anything I want you all to take from this piece is I see you and you’re not alone. I am still here in the trenches cleaning out some mess. Growth is an ongoing process that we never stop doing. Remember to be kind to yourself as you sweep, mop, and wipe down the walls this spring.