February 14, 2015

Life Doesn’t Need to Be This Hard


Life is hard enough without adding more weight than I need to carry – literally. Why do I pack my purse and my tote with so much just-in-case-I-need-it stuff? Some of those necessities never see daylight, so why do I insist on carrying it around?

I look at my husband. When we head out on errands, he has car keys and a wallet. I have my purse loaded with a year’s worth of survival gear. Why?

A week ago I woke with a horrific stiff neck. The pain moved down from the base of my skull and into my left shoulder. This is where I carry all of my tension and the arm I use to carry my work tote. Yes, the one loaded with more survival gear than the purse.

Spurred on by the discomfort of my knotted muscles, I cleaned house. I simplified everything down to what I actually used on a daily basis and pulled out everything else. I think I removed ten about pounds of stuff from the purse and the tote. At least it feels like it.

From that point, I thought about all the other baggage I carry around and decided an emotional and spiritual house cleaning was in order as well. Oh, I have done sporadic spring cleaning before, but I had not delved quite this deep. It was time. I needed to learn better ways of handling stress, or at least consistently practice the ones I knew.