“It’s ok to have a season of separation,” Kevin Duong.  I would amend that to say a season of separation is necessary.  We have to extricate ourselves from whatever it is that holds us back, whatever it is that creates that feeling of constriction in our chest. Even if it’s from the people, habits, or things we know    I can talk about this in the context of a million things because it applies to a million things—a bad job, a negative mindset, a habit that doesn’t serve, the people who treat us poorly, distraction, whatever it is.  The question of what we may or may not need separation isn’t really optional.  We all carry baggage or SOMETHING we no longer need.  We need to ask why we’re holding onto it.   Truly, I know that we don’t always know what we’re holding onto.  That weights heavy on me near the holidays because my life shifts at that time of year: I want to make everyone happy.  I want to bring back the nostalgia and emotion and joy of what we all felt years ago.  I want to create magic.  But in holding on so tightly to what was, I eliminate what IS or what could be.  The old image I have in my mind is highly romanticized and I want to bring that back to those around me, those I love.  But I need to separate from the idea of bringing back old memories because I’ve learned that their memories aren’t the same as mine.  They feel differently than I do. 

I also understand that separation can be difficult because we are often taught to stick with something until we can’t.  It’s hard to let go of the familiar.  And truthfully sometimes we don’t even know what’s holding us back.  But I will say if we continually say yes to things we haven’t thought through or things that serve someone else’s goal and not ours, we will get buried.  If we constantly say no we will end up wiping out all of our opportunities.  That may be a habit we have to stop as well.  We need to recognize that we need something different. Knowing we need something different opens our eyes to the things we need to let go of.  Life can be heavy enough as it is.  We’ve designed so many systems that benefit a select few on the efforts of those we decide have to fall in line.  If life feels heavy like we’re buried then that’s a good indication there’s something we need to let go of.  People we know will balk at the change and wonder why we’re no longer playing the game the same way.  They will say we’re different.  To that we must say, “That’s the point.”  We will never get anything different if we’re always doing what we’ve always done.  We won’t change if we are constantly trying to live the same memories over and over again to capture feelings we thought were better than the present.  Try putting the burden down.  Try letting go of what we’re told we need to carry.  Separate from what we knew and see what we learn to welcome the new.  Sometimes all it takes is a little separation to get clarity.  We don’t need all we thought we did.  Welcome the separation to welcome what we’ve been waiting for.