Give It Up!

We all have something we’ve hung onto for too long.  Maybe you have a habit.  Maybe you even have a resolution… a New Year’s resolution from four or five years ago… maybe yours is a “someday” kind of thing.  It’s time to give it up.

Yes, really.  As your advisor I’m saying that if you’ve hung onto something for this long, it is no longer driving you.  It’s an anchor.  You’re not feeling driven by it.  You’re actually feeling guilty and weighed down.  It’s now a “supposed to” instead of a “want to” or “joyfully get to.”  

I have a couple of academic pursuits on my list that I’ve been dragging with me for about two decades.  Someday, I’ll study xyz and then . . .

And you know what?  “Someday” isn’t on the calendar.  I’m not compelled to make that happen.  It was on the back burner for so long, it became a place holder.

And it’s that which you must give up:  The placeholder.  When space is taken by something, it takes energy to keep it there.  You know it’s there.  And it’s not something that sparks you, so it drains you.

Pause for a second.  What have you been telling yourself you’ll get to?  Is it a thing, a habit, a place on your someday-to-visit list, an area of study, a person you thought you’d reach out to again, a box in the garage you said you’d sort through?

We all have them.  And now, it’s time to give it up.  Let it go.

Whatever it is, how does it feel to think about it and what do you think would happen if you just let it go?  

Typically, one of two things happen:  Either you actually DO give it up and you feel a sense of relief and creative waves begin to sweep over you, OR… you fight with giving it up and actually dig in and get the thing done.  You deliberately give energy to it.

This is about your energy, then.  Where are you spending it?  Keeping something in place that no longer belongs in your life or intentionally digging back in and pushing the thing closer to the top of your priorities.

Think of the thing you’ve been dragging around the longest.  Now, give it up.  The power to choose is freedom.  Being deliberate about it sets you free.  Enjoy that as you contemplate what else you can let go of.

Breathe deeply and enjoy!  You’ve earned it!

~ Dr Wayne Pernell ~