Today's T.E.A. is poured from the pages of Pack Light: Packing with Your Purpose in Mind
Whose Stuff Is This?
Today's T.E.A. is poured from the pages of Pack Light: Packing with Your Purpose in Mind
You never know how much stuff you have until you have to move.
Have you ever moved? Have you ever packed up everything you own, loaded the boxes onto a truck, and transported them to a new location? Whether you have moved into a dorm room, an office space, an apartment, or a new home, moving is quite a task. When it is time to move, you see your space and its contents in a new light. Moving can be quite overwhelming. You begin to ask yourself: Where did all this stuff come from? Did I put this here? How long have I had this? Is this even mine?
Whose Stuff Is This?
This time of year, moving trucks are everywhere. Maybe it is your neighbor, a family member, or someone from church. Boxes on the porch, a U-Haul in the driveway, somebody waving goodbye from the curb. And every time I see it, something rises in me because I believe a physical move is almost always a picture of something much bigger happening inside.
Everything in your home got there somehow. Everything in your heart did too.
Once you begin to move you realize that you have held onto many things for years, even decades. Some of what we carry we never consciously chose to keep. It just stayed. The words someone spoke over you that hurt. The relationship that ended and the only resolution you will ever get is simply, it’s over. The opportunity you were passed over for and the story you told yourself about why. When we dig deeply past the surface of who we present to the world, we find the things tucked away in the corners of our hearts. Wounds. Grief. Pain. Disrespect. Abandonment. Things we smiled through because there was no time to stop and feel it. These things accumulate.
Just because you have had something for a long time does not mean you have to keep it.
As you move into your next season, not everything gets to come with you. Ask yourself, does this serve my purpose? If the answer is no, it’s time to let it go. This is not a small ask. We have been conditioned to hold on. Be strong. Push through. Keep going regardless of the weight. The pain you never processed, the anger you swallowed to keep the peace, the grief you postponed because life demanded you keep moving, it did not disappear. It settled. It lives in your body, in your shoulders, in the tightness in your chest, and your desire to just stay home. Your body has been keeping score.
Healing is not just emotional work. It is physical just like moving is physical.
When you carry unresolved pain, your body stays in a state of bracing, waiting for the next impact, preparing for the next wound. Your nervous system was designed to protect you, but it cannot distinguish between a memory and a moment you have on repeat. It responds to both the same way. The hurt from ten years ago can still trigger the same alarm in your body as something happening right now. You were not designed to live in a state of permanent trauma.
Take the trash out.
The unforgiveness that has made a home in you. The shame that shows up uninvited. The version of yourself you are still grieving. The expectations that were placed on you that were never yours to begin with. That is not your stuff. Your next season deserves a lighter you, not a perfect you, not you without your story, but a version of you healed enough to move.
It’s time to move.
Dr. Timogi is an international speaker, author, educator, and business owner who believes everybody deserves a breakthrough! More T.E.A. is always brewing at www.drtimogi.com.
