Right now, at this very moment, I am procrastinating a bunch of post-vacation chores. You know the drill: clean out the car, unpack, wash/fold/put away laundry, do dishes, run a kitchen inventory (a week is a long time to leave food!), clean and reorganize the entire house, feed the dog, water the flowers, mow the lawn.
There are few things in life I hate more than unpacking. I've been known to let my luggage (minus the dirty clothes) sit for weeks as I gradually picked out the items I needed. A girls camp backpack sat in my room until the only things left were the waterproof matches and compass. In fact, my wallet still contains a €5 bill ... from six years ago.
Packing has never been a problem for me; after a few months in Europe I could pack for a weekend in another country in a half hour or less. Kids make the job trickier, sure, but it's a happy task for me. One of anticipation.
The unpacking gets me, though. It's so final. Unpacking means the vacation is over; it's time to take stock of what I have and put it back in its place. Unpacking means it's time to move on.
And so, I think, it is with my life. I have a lifelong habit of holding on to things too long. Jealousies, insecurities. Hurts. Pride. Love lost. I hold on to things I have packed in my past and, occasionally, neglect the uncluttered future.
So much unpacking to do.
(Then I can tell you about the vacation.)
I am exactly like this. I cannot unpack to save my life, even though I know it will make life easier (read: less messy). Our whole house is still boxed/laundry-basketed/suitcased. Where'd you go? I want to hear about your adventures!
ReplyDeleteHow on earth did you figure out how to make the euro sign? I can see it sitting there on m #5 button, but I don't know how to make it appear on my screen.
ReplyDeleteSo how do you manage to finally unpack the past? You know, those things you really need to let go of? Or find the courage to act on those things you've been holding on to too long, meaning to take care of them but never really getting around to it I find that I take my problems, memories, resentments, joys, good intentions, etc. out too look at pretty often, but then I pack them away again into my memory box (which I made to keep treasures but which really holds all the junk I can't bear to throw away).
Lu, I copied and pasted it. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd, truthfully, I don't know how to completely unpack the past. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I do the same thing with emotions: pull them out one by one, as I'm willing/able to. Sometimes I'm amazed at the things that healed on their own. Others still fester...