Packing ………

Packing

Wyrick Edge | Journaling on the Edge

I’ve been packing lately. Somewhere between deciding what to keep and what to let go of, I started thinking about how much we hold on to because of two little words:

What if?

What if I fit into it again?

What if I need it one day?

What if I get rid of it and wish I hadn’t?

The truth is, I haven’t worn it. I haven’t used it. Some of it, I didn’t even remember I had until I started packing.

And now, somehow, I’m trying to convince myself I might need it.

It’s funny how something we haven’t thought about in years can suddenly become so difficult to let go of. We start imagining every reason to keep it without stopping to consider how long we’ve already been living without it.

So we pack it up. We give it space in another box, another closet, another place.

And then we carry it with us again.

That made me think about the things we carry that don’t fit inside a box: the habits we’ve outgrown, the expectations that no longer feel like ours, and the plans we keep making room for even though what we want has changed.

Sometimes we hold on because something still matters to us. Other times, we hold on because we haven’t stopped to ask whether it does.

There is a difference.

Not everything needs to go. There are things we love, things we use, and things we keep simply because the memories attached to them make us smile. I want to make room for those things.

But I’m realizing that something doesn’t have to come with me just because I’ve had it for a long time.

It may have served me once. It may have fit me once. That doesn’t mean I have to keep trying to make it fit now.

And letting go feels so good.

There’s relief in making a decision about something that has been taking up space and realizing I no longer have to keep finding a place for it.

Maybe instead of asking, “What if I need this someday?” I can ask, “Has this been adding something to my life, or have I simply been storing it?”

I’m still packing. I’m still deciding.

But I’m leaving behind the things that no longer serve me. I’m taking with me the things that enrich my life, mean something to me, and still bring me happiness.

Something to Think About

What have you been keeping simply because of “what if”? How would it feel to let it go and make more room for the things that bring you happiness?

With all my heart,

Mary Wyrick – Wyrick Edge