Do you also feel that life is sometimes too hectic to handle? I often felt that way, even on days that were free. I realized, later, that such a feeling was caused by the excess weight I carried. Do you know what’s worse? These excesses are not even necessary or important for me to continuously carry.
Now that I am finally aware of these excesses, I am taking the necessary steps to slowly relieve myself of them. Here are the two categories of these excesses and what I am doing to free myself:
- Excess things. In one of my previous blogs, I shared the negative effects of clutter on me. Clutter does not only mean trash; it can also include functional things. If a thing is functional, does it mean we need to keep them? My answer to this is no. Because of my thrifty nature, I usually find it hard to let go of things even when I seldom or no longer use them. This tendency caused my things to accumulate and led to a clutter-filled space. And as I mentioned, clutter brought me more stress because it made me exhausted, anxious, distracted, irritable, and unproductive. Hoarding cost me a lot. To rectify my situation, I conditioned myself to practice letting go of things. I started giving away or selling some items to people who had a real need for them.
- Excess thoughts. I used to wonder why I regularly had headaches when I felt healthy in general. Then, I learned that the mind can be overloaded, which would then, of course, result in physical pain. But, are all the thoughts we have necessary or helpful for us to sacrifice the comfort of having peace of mind? Again, my answer is no. When I reflected, I realized that a big percentage of my headspace was filled with unresolved issues and negative thoughts. What did I do? I stopped putting things off and resolved what could be dealt with, and did my best to let go of those that I have no control over. Yes, we either deal with it to finish, or let go if it is something uncontrollable.
All these are easier said than done, yet possible to do. If we keep holding on to things or thoughts that are not necessary or helpful, we are holding ourselves from fully growing and living.
Do you also wish to start letting go of the excess baggage in your life? Why?
(Photo by Ketut Subiyanto)
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