Is This Still Serving Me?

IS THIS STILL SERVING ME? 

I am packing, headed down to the warmth of Baja for the next couple of months.

Remote working has been a part of my norm for the last 10 years and packing (CARRY ON ONLY!) is second nature. I grab the now-familiar combination of clothes and set them in the case. Then I reach for the new things I have picked up - a pair of silk pyjamas (my new work-from-home uniform), a splurge of a cashmere sweater that keeps me warm writing early in the morning, and it becomes clear that there is just not enough room for it all. 

I empty the case to start again and carefully separate each item into piles - the must-haves, the nice to haves and the leave-behinds and realize that I have been packing things without intention, carrying things around that I just don’t need any anymore; the jeans that aren’t comfortable, the rain gear that is too heavy, the t-shirt that I paid too much for and frankly never liked.

So I deliberately hold each item and ask myself “Is this worth the space and the weight it takes to carry it?”

Of course, as I am doing that I realize that I am asking myself a bigger question.

There are so many things I carry around, the pressure of being the planner, the responsibility of being the peacekeeper, the self-criticism of not being enough, without really being conscious of my choice to carry them or the energy it takes to lug these pressures around all of the time.

So I lighten my load - I choose to leave behind my jeans and my planning. I give up on the rain gear and the responsibility, I set aside the t-shirt and the self-criticism and choose to leave with a lighter load.

I pack instead the question that I now ask before everything I do or commit to  "Is this still serving me"?
Is this way of thinking still serving me?
Is this story about an old hurt still serving me?
Is the belief that I am too much of this or not enough for that still serving me? 

If the answer is no, I let it go. I don't pack it with me and I don't pick it up again.

I leave without it.  

What is no longer serving you? Want help setting it aside? Give me a call and we can work on this together. I've got time in my schedule!