- Are you holding onto that last relationship even though it wasn't healthy?
- Are you walking around with anger, fear, resentment and bitterness?
- Is your entire mindset shaped by negative past experiences?
- Does your emotional baggage make you feel strong or weak?
Do you stubbornly hold onto emotional baggage because the very feat of carrying it around and miraculously surviving each day makes you feel super-human? Kinda like "ta-dah!" look at me balancing a whole bunch of s**t for no apparent reason except for the fact it makes me feel strong? Or, is it the perfect excuse for not being strong enough to move forward with your life? Do you take pleasure in parading around your hurts, disappointments, fears and betrayals because the attention feels good and pity parties validate your sense of defeat; even though deep down inside you feel burdened with so much emotional deadweight that you feel uninspired, unproductive and uncertain about your future? Despite appearances, holding onto all that negative emotional stuff immobilizes you with fear, impairs your judgement, depletes your energy, and diminishes your confidence. So, knowing this, why is it still so hard to let it go?
Oh, and let's not forget that we do more than just haul baggage. We stop to rummage through it! Because who doesn't love to reminisce? We unpack stuff, scrutinize it, and repack it just in case it might come in handy in the future. And while we're at it, we stuff even more junk inside! I've noticed how much I cling to stuff when I'm going through an ungrounding life change, a painful loss, or when my own fear of failure requires a bag of excuses not to try. All that baggage is a constant reminder of how past ideas, efforts, and relationships left me feeling worthless. It's as if my body and spirit can't even imagine the levity of possibility because I've conditioned myself to carry around so much weight.
Instead of holding onto emotional baggage, you gain so much more strength by looking at a past idea to either evolve it or recognize how you've outgrown that way of thinking. You gain so much more strength by looking at a past effort to see what you learned from the choices you made and how your energy might be better spent in a creative new direction. And you gain so much more strength by looking at a past relationship to see how it was a reflection of who you were at the time. And to re-evaluate what you genuinely want, need, expect, and deserve in the future. Not to mention, the changes you need to make in order to attract that into your life.
Carrying around emotional baggage only conditions your body, mind, and spirit for more hurt, disappointment, fear and betrayal. What are you doing to condition yourself for the life you really want?
Indie Girl Diary: writing prompt
I am letting go of __________.
Indie Girl-Talk: let's chat!
Why is it so hard for you to let go of past hurts, failures, rejections, disappointments etc?
