Friday, July 25, 2008

Life Baggage...Clean Your Closet!

I have been planning to go through my closet and get rid of ALL the clothes I never wear. This can be a problem because I always think, "No not this, I might wear it again." Time after time and my bag ends up with just a few things in it, my closet is still a mess.

I also have a couple drawers next to my nightstand, they are overflowing with JUNK! Don't think this is a recent thing, when we moved 5 years ago, I was going to clean it out, shred the papers, get rid of old prescriptions...but I continue to just shove it closed, no one can see the stuff inside anyways, I'll get to it later.

This got me thinking, how many of us go through life carrying years of inner baggage...hurt, anger, insecurity, pride, jealousy...from place to place? We think that moving, hiding, cleaning the outside, pretending, will make everything okay. We wonder, "Why do I not feel better inside? It's been so many years since THAT happened! Whatever your THAT is, you still carry it around inside. Just like my closet and drawers, I can hide things by closing the door, but deep down I know it's there and it weighs me down.

I have some areas that need cleaning, people I need to forgive, insecurities, self doubt, anger and many other things to overcome. I have slowly been going through my inner "CLOSET" and "DRAWERS." We often find ourselves in the same problems and situations, over and over again, because we never get to the CLEANING process...running, hiding, and denying is much easier. We will never truly be free until we take a look at what we have been hiding behind our closed doors.

Start with something small, (hold your tongue when you want to let someone have it, smile when your feeling sad, don't gossip about others for a whole day, walk for 30 minutes today.) Changing the little bad habits, one day at a time, will help you to slowly get to the bigger things (forgive someone who doesn't deserve your forgiveness, forgive yourself, apologize to someone you owe an apology to, trust others, overcome self doubt, fear and anger) one drawer at a time. It isn't an easy task, obviously...you've been carrying it around for years. Yes, I know it can be VERY painful! Why not find a way to get rid of the trash buildup, it gets harder and harder to stuff your drawers closed. Things start to stick out of the sides, top and bottom. Stop blaming others and get to YOUR cleaning! YOU deserve the best...you can start fresh, one small drawer at a time!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

WELL PUT!!!!

I have FINALLY cleaned out my baggage from my life;) Truly! Oh, I'm not perfect, by any stretch...but I have forgiven all that I feel need forgiveness, I have no regrets in life, other than not finishing college, but hey, I can remedy that;) It's just so much easier to go through life HAPPY and not carrying grudges & hurts!!!!

Lisa Petrarca said...

Good for you! I'm on my way...I have the college regret thing too!!
I never realized how much CRAP I was carrying around and how it was weighing me down, until I started my "CLEANING".

Thanks for your comment!!

Robin said...

Bravo! I've been going to an amazing massage/healing therapist who has been helping me clean out my drawers..think i've got one or two clean but several more to go..

Well stated Lisa!

Lisa Petrarca said...

Glad your cleaning Robin...you're on your way!!! Have a GREAT weekend!

~Trish~ said...

Excellent words as always Lisa!!!

Love ya!

Lisa Petrarca said...

Thanks Trish...hope your trip is going better than yesterday!

The Mind of a Mom said...

Hey Lisa

Sometimes you go through the closet and find an olive branch and extend it but get poked in the eye in return. So you need to just give away your unwanted stuff and move on forever.

Aunt Julie said...

My closet? Well, that's another story! Please drop by soon and join our effort to get Uncle Lynn and Pop'rs on Oprah! We're doing an e-mail campaign as part of our Great Pop'rs Giveaway, and you can help! Uncle Lynn and Pop'rs on Oprah? I have my fingers crossed...

Tara said...

Thanks for the comment!

Great post....been a lot of what I've been thinking about as I started to clean and organize my house it definitely made me think about the cleaning and organizing of my "life".