How would you like it if you were required to tie 4 or so cinder blocks to your back each day and take them around with you wherever you had to go? Extra baggage isn’t fun if you have to carry it around with you!
No? You wouldn’t like it? So why do you do it? Why do we do it?
I propose that we wouldn’t want to do that because it would hurt physically. Right? Right! This is what some refer to as walking around with ‘dead weight’. It’s described this way because if you were to try and carry a dead person that would be so difficult, and because the person is dead, they can’t shift their weight to make it comfortable for you to carry or even volunteer to stand for a while to give you a chance to rest.
Well most of us are carrying around ‘dead weight’ with us every day. Some situations, jobs, cares, burdens or even people who add very little or nothing to our life experiences but the burden, strife, chaos and misery. Jo finally got rid of her excess and feels so much better for it! It was her job that was the excess baggage, depressing her and causing health issues! You can check out her story here.
I say drop the baggage! Yes, you heard me right! Drop the baggage! What is the point? In most cases, this extra baggage causes us so much excruciating emotional pain that we live a great portion of our life being sad and bitter. We must come to the realization that we have made wrong choices but it should not mean that we have to be doomed because of those wrong choices that we have made.
Sometimes these choices can lead to depressing mental health issues which are avoidable. If not dealt with, we are in danger of even more serious issues. And these issues we would do well to avoid.
It might mean that you have chosen to be friends with someone but as the friendship develops you see really vile character traits that you don’t want to be associated with. There might be the inability to control anger; habitual lateness (when you prefer to be on time all the time) or this friend might indulge in petty crimes thinking nothing of it. It might be that your so-called friends make you feel inferior especially in front of others, or talk negatively about others all the time. It might be that they don’t make any effort to call you up or check on you or show any interest at all in your life! I say drop the baggage.
My mom used to say ‘be careful of the friends you keep’ or ‘show me your company and I will tell you who you are’. This is serious. Think about it. Think about your friends and acquaintances. What are they adding to your life’s experience? What are you adding to others life experience? Are you a ‘dead weight’? Do you often do a good deed? It goes without saying. Fix it!
In law now, well at least in some countries, there is what is called ‘guilty by association’. Guilty by association means that you personally didn’t really do something wrong but that people who you are associated with did. You are judged by the company you keep, so you can be viewed as guilty because of your association with wrongdoers. So it is a serious matter. We must take a stand. We must dare to do what is right. Yes along the way we might lose ‘friends’…….but I put it to you that that is just losing excess baggage! Food for thought, isn’t it?
I like the way in His teachings, Jesus used different analogies to reach different sets of people depending on their background. So I’m going to try this technique here in case you don’t get what I am talking about. You are in a boat with some of your friends. You are out at sea and the sea is suddenly raging. Some of you are frantically rowing, trying desperately to get to dry land. Some are just sitting watching you and might even be snickering. They are not helping and you know your life is in danger if you just let them sit there. Would you be OK with that? Some others on the boat are not only not rowing, but they are using the available oars to dig holes in the boat! That is actual sabotage! Would you be OK with that too? I bet not, so you need to make a decision.
You try to plant beautiful flowers with friends but each time you plant one, they walk behind you and uproot them. What do you do? Another friend not only uproots your flowers but puts a choking, useless vine in its place. Sabotage again! So what do you do? I repeat, get rid of the baggage.
So I say, take stock of your life. Start a spring clean of your life and rid yourself of anything and everything that adds no value. Do it. It might just save your life!
What about as it relates to your finances? Do you feel like you are actually drowning in a whirlpool because you have too much on? Take stock of your own personal finances and take control. Decrease your spending on stuff that you just gather but that is not necessary. If you read this post you will begin to make changes that will see you simplifying your life and helping others to do the same.
Sign up below to receive 101 tips to help with your personal finances. Can you imagine? 101 tips! And they are all doable. If you are interested, we will also share our weekly newsletter with you on some of the ways we are living a simplified life.
Leave a Reply