Have you ever pondered why it’s so hard for human beings to let go. Sure, when the pain is great enough we can let go pretty fast. Ever grab on to something that was super hot.? Yeah, you let go pretty quickly. But you know I’m not talking about that kind of letting go, don’t you? It’s the other stuff. Stuff like anger, bitterness, resentment and all the rest of those things that we just seem to insist on hanging on to. And perhaps it’s just me but it seems that the more these things are associated with personal loss, greater is our need to fill the void. Unfortunately, we often have a tendency to fill the void with those things that are detrimental to our lives, relationships and sometimes our very existence. It also seems that the greater or more painful the loss, the tighter we cling to their substitute. I suppose to some extent it’s natural and even reasonable that we initially fill the void of loss with those negative feelings like bitterness and resentment. But when is enough enough? How hard should it be to say that was yesterday, this is today and move on? Pretty hard it would seem because even when and if we let go, there just seems to be that part in us that says “but that piece is still mine”. Even when we think we are willing to let go and do, there comes a time only to discover that one small piece remains that we have laid claim to. I know you know what I’m talking about because we have all been there. I for one probably need to apply the same approach to my emotional stuff as I do the physical stuff. A couple of times a year I try to get rid of all the excess stuff cluttering up the house and garage. This always results in an “adventure” because one of us is a stuff keeper and one of us is a stuff thrower. Time and again the same question gets asked over and over…why are we keeping this? The answer is usually the same…that’s the widget that goes with the thingy we no longer have. We identify what it is but often struggle as to why we are keeping it when it’s really pretty useless. Six months later we’ll drag it out again and go through the same conversation, again. Sometimes it makes its way from inside the house to the garage. Every step helps you know. Sometimes it goes into a pile that gets reevaluated for next time. Eventually, the super-useless stuff will get the old heave-ho. As much as I give Aimee a hard time, I have my own useless stuff too. I have a 55 year old suitcase still taking up space that hasn’t been used in a very long time. Yeah, getting rid of our useless stuff cluttering our house can be difficult. Like my suitcase, even when we know something is useless, we keep it around for sentimental or emotional reasons. But how can you be sentimental with bitterness? What? It served us so well that we feel compelled to hang on to it out of obligation? And oh yeah, that anger puts us on a euphoric high so we keep coming back for another hit? What kind of creature does that? You’d think it would be just the opposite. You’d think we’d be trying to get rid of all that stuff like a cheap garage sale. But no…we hang on to that stuff like it was great grandma’s hope chest. Sheesh. Maybe I’ll never know why we hang on like we do but possibly, just possibly, I can figure out how to at least get stuff out of the house and in the garage. After all, every little bit helps. Right?
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 02:28:30 +0000
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