Put it Down and Build On it

Photo by Joeri Römer on Unsplash

We’re all carrying burdens, aren’t we? Heavy things…

The things in our past that we’re ashamed of. Our own mistakes or errors in judgement. Our failures. Sometimes the actions of others that we’ve taken responsibility for or have affected who we feel we’ve become.

Reality is we have more than one choice for how we handle those burdens.

We can carry them around… weighing us down…

Or we can put them down and choose to use them as the foundation we build on.

The challenges of the past have created who we are today—the good, and the bad. The knowledge and awareness. The skills we’ve developed.

It’s easy to look at who we are and not give ourselves credit for our own strength and survival. To see the negatives of the bad experiences.

But without them… Would we have the empathy we have now? Would we have the survival skills? The creativity? The kindness? The knowledge?

Don’t overvalue the negatives. Don’t dismiss the positives (and they’re always there if we’re willing to see them).

Put the burdens down and build on them. How have they been a stepping stone to where we’re at today? How can we bring more of the positives into our lives today?

I shared some heavy personal stuff this morning with a friend, and as much as I wanted to slip into frustration, resentment and shame… I am actively choosing to focus on the positives, the progress I’ve made since then, and continuing to build towards the future—even if the burdens mean the future doesn’t look like everything part of me wishes it could…

I remind myself of the “kid and the candy jar” analogy. When a kid sees a candy jar full of candy, sticks a little hand in and grasps as much candy as they can, they can’t pull their hand out. If they’d just let go of a few pieces… they could still enjoy some candy. But in frustration they get upset that they can’t have everything they SEE and WANTED.

If we can let go of ALL the WANTS and focus on gratefulness for what we do have, for the opportunities we can reach… everything changes.