The older I get, the more I realize that Erykah Badu was really onto something.
“Bag lady you gone hurt your back
Dragging all them bags like that
I guess nobody ever told you
All you must hold onto, is you, is you, is you”
After getting into my car wreck back in October, I realized how much baggage I had.
The mental, the emotional, and the physical things around me all just seemed to weigh me down. Everything felt so heavy and ya girl was TIRED.
As I began to work through some of my emotional trauma, I realized how unimportant many of the material things I had were.
“One day all them bags gon’ get in your way…so pack light”
So I started thinking about the literal baggage I had. The “stuff”.
I began looking into minimalism and what exactly that meant.
Minimalism: a style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minimalism
“Simplicity”. That’s all I wanted.
During my depressive episodes, I have a hard time with cleaning and putting away my clothes so you can only imagine how many mounds I had in my room and on my closet floor. I’m sure my cat enjoyed it, but life can’t always be about Ziggy.
I remember looking at all the stuff I let accumulate around my room and thinking, “Why the hell do I have so much stuff?!”
I immediately went to the closet and began to rip items off the hangers. I took shoes from the shelves and tossed them in a box. I went through my drawers and threw out those bras that fit too small (I’ve finally accepted the fact that these thangs ain’t going nowhere).
Think I’m joking about donating most of my closet?
As I pulled crap out of my closet, I began to feel lighter.
The more I embrace the minimalist lifestyle, the more I realize the emotional and mental effects of living this way.
I cringe at over-indulgence now.
This also means don’t look at my photos too hard because you guys are going to realize I wear the same things over and over again. lol
I want to live in such a simple way that I don’t have to worry about the haziness of “things” getting in the way.
I am a strong believer that energy can be tied to items. So, letting go of things that were from ex-friends, ex-boyfriends, ex-family members, etc. helped me to also release that negative energy that may have been weighing on me emotionally.
“Girl I know, sometimes it’s hard and we can’t let go
Oh when someone hurts you oh so bad inside”…
“If you start breathin’ babe
You won’t believe it, it feels so much better”
I’ve said all this to say:
GET RID OF THAT EXCESS SHIT, SIS.
If you don’t need it, why do you have it?
That applies to people, things, whatever.
Look around you and only keep the essentials. Keep what doesn’t distract you.
Just because there’s an attraction, doesn’t mean it’s not a distraction! (Damn, I need to add that line to my next book)
Basically, Badu says it best:
“Bag lady, let it go let it go let it go let it go oh
Girl you don’t need it
Bet ya love could make it better”
Stay blessed, my friends!
P.S. Immortal WhIIskey (the second installment of my Immortal Whiskey book series) will be released 2/2/20. Check back next week for more details on the book!
supporting, uplifting, and informing people of color 