Yesterday I was helping a family friend pack up her things, because she was getting new carpet and had to move all of her stuff. When I was putting things in boxes I’d hear her talk about the things that she had, and the memories that were attached to them, along with all the things that she needed to sort through and get rid of. It really made me think how much we just pile things up and wait to sort through them later. Whether it’s thoughts, ideas, or hurts. It’s what we call “cleaning out the closet”. Within the past two months or so I have had to do a lot of soul searching, I’ve been through a lot of hurt, and a lot of old memories and regrets got dragged up to the surface. And as much as I wanted to shove them back down, I realized that I needed to face these things, and get them sorted out. What I was going to keep, and what I was going to reject. I decided to reject my regrets, because dwelling on these things did me more harm then good. I needed to replace them with new personal rules and goals, so I don’t make the same mistakes again. And I knew I would have to be strict on myself to achieve those goals. I then went through my hurts, and got rid of the small things. You see, I am notorious for sweating the small stuff, and I really need to learn to just let those things go. Take a deep breath, and get rid of it. But it always gets a little difficult when it comes to the big things, like breakups, family problems, or money issues. Those are the things that we really hold on to, sometimes without even realizing it. And we revisit those hurts over and over again until it we just learn to live with it as a part of our daily lives. But when we stop and think what we can learn from these things we start to see it in a new light. Getting hurt is a part of life, it’s not some big black hole that is going to take our life, although sometimes it can be if you let it. What we have to realize is that it is all just trial and error. Many of the things we go through can in some way help us to better understand ourselves and the things around us. So every once in a while or whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed then just take a deep breath, sort through the thoughts in your head, and let go of all the unwanted items.