Or: What’s in Your Bag? (Alternative Title)
“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.”
George Washington Burnap
We spend a lot of time searching outside for things to put in our bags. Our live’s bags.
We fill up our bags with external things, which might include things like expectations, demands, approval, acceptance, physical beauty, achievements, money, status, influence, and the list goes on.
Once our bags are full and extremely heavy, we carry them around while we take on even more things coming our way, stretching our bags to their full extent until they start cracking and finally give in. They brake. Your extremely overweight bag can’t take it anymore.
See where we’re going?
Why do we often wait for our baggage to exhaust us before we start making improvements and taking the self-care topic seriously? The essence of balance lies in our ability to recognize when it’s enough.
How do we know when it’s enough? When we listen to our bodies. Feelings of tiredness, mental or body exhaustion, headaches, tummy aches, fatigue, sleepless nights, junk food cravings, alcohol cravings, sadness. There are infinite signs that our body exerts, but we simply make the decision not to listen because there are way too many, and more important things to take care of.
You know, our bodies are super powerful machines, but we tend to think that these machines have unlimited energy, and they haven’t.
Anne Lamott once said: “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you”.
Our energy is indeed flexible, but our time is not, so we need to balance our limited time with our flexible energy into the day to day and make space to unplug and allow our body to naturally recharge.
Only in this space, we allow our minds to clear up, understand our needs, take action, and make wise decisions about the things that we really want to fill our bags with.
Our bags should be airy, light, and resistant enough to help us flow through life successfully.
Like Spandex.
