Letting Go

May 10, 2021 - Blaine Beyer

I've been at this place many times in my life, stacks of boxes behind me in my car. A handful of moves in my childhood, moving to the dorms in college, finding a job out of state, in and out of rent houses. And now, I'm moving again. It's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

What stuff can I get rid of? What can be sold off? Oh wait, I can't part with that yet. Blaine, do you really need to keep a shirt that doesn't fit you anymore?

Packing our lives into boxes forces us to look at what we've accumulated over the past several years. And it's more than physical items. Sometimes it can be painful to see what we've held onto. And yet, sorting through our things can bring back wonderful memories and joyous emotions.

As I've been sorting through my physical belongings, I've also made note of the spiritual, emotional, and mental baggage I've been holding onto.

Before a move, you try to get rid of things so there's not much to carry from place to place.

There are several items I've carried to each of the houses I've lived in. Some of them hold cherished memories. Some of them, quite frankly, are just a bunch of crap.

I have to fight myself, mentally, because I think, "I've paid for this thing! I HAVE to keep it." I was discussing this problem in a recent therapy session. And my therapist asked me, "How much more are you paying for these things if you keep them?" Oof! That hit me between the eyeballs.

If I were to keep lugging around these items, it costs more money and time to move them. It costs space to store them. If I were to keep lugging them around, it takes up space something else could potentially fill.

To translate this further, what is spiritually weighing me down? What is lurking in the closets of my soul that I can't get rid of? If I hold onto this stuff, how is it holding me back?

With a lot of help, I've finally resigned myself to start getting rid of things, physically and mentally. I can't continue to carry unnecessary things into new chapters of my life. It's getting too heavy and I can't bear the weight of it anymore.

What does this look like for me? Getting rid of painful people and relationships. Tossing out old ideas and beliefs that no longer serve me. Clearing out space for new opportunities. Leaving room for things to get a little messy with ample area to organize. AND getting rid of physical things that take up too much space.

My prayer is to turn this into a spiritual practice of "letting go." We cannot receive newness in our lives if there's not space for it. It's also harder to move if we keep hanging onto the things that weigh us down.

As I've watched hard-earned things walk out the door, end up in the trash or donation piles (literally and metaphorically), I now see that I've been wasting so much effort and space trying to keep things that don't belong.

It's freeing. It's also healing.

Are there things in your life you can get rid of? Are there any relationships holding you down? Is there a job that is taking the life out of you? What anxieties and fears are you still allowing to take up space? Maybe it's past time to move on. Maybe it's time to let go.

Let go.