I didn't give any thought at all to what my New Year's Resolution would be this year. I figured, since I've yet to truly keep any resolutions I'd made before, why bother thinking about it. Maybe my problem was that my resolutions were too contrived – maybe I'd be more dedicated if my resolutions were more sincere. Following that route of logic, I decided that if I had something genuinely worth dedicating myself to, I'd jump on it. Otherwise, I'd just let it go.
And that's when it hit me; letting things go, willingly, has become a bit of a sore spot for me. Oh, sure, I've let go of plenty of people and things in my life, but almost always, I realized, as a reaction or the result of a situation that I had little control over. What I need to work on is recognizing the things that are, or have become, detrimental to me, and letting them go.
I'm starting small; the clothes I haven't worn in a long time, the books I'm never going to read again, and most of the "stuff" that once had a home with my mother, and is currently taking up a sizeable piece of real estate in my basement storage area (in truth, it wasn't doing her any good, either, and I've just been perpetuating the habit for the last couple of years). I think it's true that if you haven't used or thought about something in a year, you no longer need it, so I'm going to force myself to get comfortable with passing things on. Maybe hanging on to things is an acceptable form of fear – the victory of the Creeping What-If's; "What if I need it and don't have it?" Instead of being afraid that I might need these things at some vague point in the future, maybe I should have enough faith in myself to figure out an alternative if the situation arises.
Oh, and give yourself 5 extra points if you know what song the post title comes from ;-)
