I heard my doorbell ring and voices downstairs. I stood up and looked out the window to see a couple carrying my beautiful white chest down the street. I ran for my phone to take a picture, but they were too far away to get a photo by the time I got back. I am working through a workbook to review 2019 and plan 2020 called “Design Your Destiny” by Kim Job and suggested to me by my friend, Shaun Roney, and totally worth $10. I hurried through the reflecting on 2019 pages so that I could get to work on planning 2020. Now I am going back because I couldn’t build a strong foundation for the next year without taking a good look at this year.
One of the prompts is “Things I am leaving behind”. I struggled with this prompt. 2019 was a good year. I did so many things this year, many good, and others that I tried but didn’t reach the goal I planned on. What parts do I want to leave behind? I sat and looked at the page and jotted down a couple of things (I need 10) but couldn’t relate to giving up things as I leave 2019 – that’s when I heard the doorbell and saw my chest being carried down the street. It was the perfect example of something that I am letting go of in 2020.
Two weeks ago, my daughter moved in with us and put her son in the school right behind our house. Our downstairs has had our adult kids living in it off and on for 10 years. It needed a lot of updating. Popcorn ceilings, lighting, molding, painting, carpeting, and that’s just the family room and bedroom. The bathroom needs to be updated too. This daughter volunteered to do the work to remodel it so she can live comfortably downstairs. My husband and I were not wild about tearing up the downstairs. I didn’t want to get dragged into a project when I had enough of my own projects. While in the caulking aisle of Lowe’s she ran into someone, who does this for a living and who is looking for side jobs. The day after Christmas, he takes a look at the job, we all agree on the job description and a price, and he and my daughter get to work. I am excited to have the downstairs updated but not excited to be living in the middle of a remodel.
Over the past few days dear daughter has been asking me to look over some of the stuff I have in that room. I didn’t want to – I had to be asked a couple of times. Today she volunteered to carry out the garbage and the donations if I would just come and decide what I want to keep and what I can let go of. That’s how we came to list my chest on our local Facebook Buy Nothing group. I got rid of boxes of books, furniture, toys, all kinds of things that I don’t need and don’t use any more. It feels amazing to let go of so much stuff that I have been dragging around for years. I don’t need it and it just weighs me down.
After this great example of giving up physical things, I was able to generate a great list of emotional baggage I’ve been dragging around:
o Waiting for permission
o Excuses
o Being afraid of what others think of me
o Emotional eating
o And more . . .
It turns out that I had plenty of things I am willing to leave behind – less really is more.
What is something you want to leave behind as we enter 2020?
