Are you carrying some emotional baggage around? Are you keeping some “old stuff” just in case….? Read on for 5 steps to find out more about your “old stuff”, let it go and live your BEST life….
So, I’ve been making some changes. Well rather a lot actually. I’ve been getting rid of lots of my possessions. Possessions I have been holding on to for five years. They have been locked away in a storage container for a whole five years. I never even opened the door to that storage container once. And I paid for the privilege of said storage container… I paid quite a large amount of money to hoard the accumulated possessions.
Five years ago I made lots of changes to my life including moving home. I de-cluttered and got rid of a HUGE amount of possessions.
But for some reason, there was a quite a lot of possessions I just couldn’t let go of. Even though I couldn’t take them with me, and I was going to have to pay for the privilege of storing them, I just couldn’t let them go.
During a conversation with a dear friend, it cropped up that I still had this storage container of “stuff” tucked away. She was AMAZED that I was still holding onto this stuff and even more AMAZED when I told her that I’d never even opened the door to take anything out or look through it. Her question to me was; why, why are you holding on to these things that you clearly don’t need in your life?
In that moment, I knew it was time for me to really answer the question; by keeping this stuff, what was it keeping me connected to…..?
Flip back to five years ago when I took the plunge to leave the corporate world to blaze my own trail and do work that fed my soul. I downsized my life to accommodate the initial changes to my income. I studied & studied & studied so I could do the work I now do and LOVE! I love being a health coach more than anything I have ever done before. I made sacrifices that I never thought I’d be able to make. (Quick side-note to that last sentence; when you are doing the work you love, making sacrifices means nothing…..) I was chasing my dream; doing the work I LOVED and evolving into the person I always wanted to be, doing the work that was always in my heart to do (I know, I’m getting a tad emotional and deep here, but it’s true! So bear with me!)
So why the hell was I holding on to all this “old-stuff”…. The answer to that question I know now is this; It was my just in case. Just in case I failed and I went back to the corporate world and I would need that stuff. Just in case my dream chasing was actually a ridiculous project. To be honest, the mind gremlin (I’ve talked about those more here) was saying just quietly, you are going to need this stuff because failure is inevitable. This stuff was keeping me connected to an old life that was at times AMAZING, but it was the past… I life I no longer lived and had no desire to go back to. I had started a new chapter and it was time to let go and really embrace this new life that I have created. It was time to walk my talk and let things go and put the past well a truly behind me.
The past is a great place to visit, but not a great place to stay.
So, I opened that storage locker and emptied the whole lot! I spent three days sifting through my past, kept a few (and I mean a few) treasured keepsakes and got rid of the rest. Just.Like.That.
The time had come to acknowledge that I was on my true and right path and that this “old stuff” was holding me back. Even though only in some small way, it was holding me back.
By doing the work and riding the emotional roller coaster, I cleared a space in my life so I could move forward and continue to create an even bigger future.
Why do we hold on to old thoughts, feelings, ways of being, possessions, “old stuff”…? The truth is, the answer to that question will be different for each and every one of us. The important thing is we find our own truth about why we are holding on to the “old stuff” & delve into what it is keeping us connected to. Then find a way to let go in a way that feels right… Letting go takes faith and perseverance. Believing that your wisest self is right.
Ask yourself why or what is holding you back….? Only you can get out of your way…As I say to my clients, we need to get down in the dirt and clear that old crap out. So we can deal with it. And then move past it….
If you feel the time is right for you to move forward, try this exercise to tap into what is holding you back, being honest about your “old stuff” and to come up with a solution that could just help you shift into your best life….
- Write down who you think you are, who you want to be, all the things in life that you want to be doing…
- Ask yourself, what is truly getting in the way of all the things you just wrote down in answer to the first question. What’s the “old stuff”? Dig deep; un-filter your thoughts, allow yourself to write your truth. Where does this “old stuff” come from and what is it keeping you attached too…….?
- Ask yourself what role this “old stuff” has played in your life and what is it keeping you from or stopping you doing now and in your future…?
- By letting this “old stuff” go, what does it clear the way for? What does your future hold? What do you REALLY want in life….?
- And if it feels right and good for you, agree to let the “old stuff” go and allow yourself to step into your greatness…
“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but the responsibility of our future.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
As always, with love & leafy greens, Jo xox
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