Burn It Down

"You can change what you want about yourself at any time. You see yourself as someone who can’t write or play an instrument, who gives in to temptation or makes bad decisions, but that’s really not you. It’s not ingrained. It’s not your personality. Your personality is something else, something deeper than just preferences, and these details on the surface, you can change any time you like.

If it is useful to do so, you must abandon your identity and start again. Sometimes, it’s the only way. Set fire to your old self. It’s not needed here. It’s too busy shopping, gossiping about others, and watching days go by and asking why you haven’t gotten as far as you’d like. This old self will die and be forgotten by all but family, and replaced by someone who makes a difference. Your new self is not like that. Your new self is the Great Chicago Fire—overwhelming, overpowering, and destroying everything that isn’t necessary. "  Julien Smith
 

Because I live in a part of the country prone to wild fires, I know several people quite well who have lost their homes in fire. Without exception, for all they lost, they are grateful for still having the important things...their loved ones, their pets, perhaps a few family photographs they took with them when we all evacuated. The fire burned everything else up, and they were left with the essentials.

A close friend I've known for more than half my life described me recently as a "deep but uncomplicated person." I asked her what she meant, and she said that I feel things deeply and think deeply, but I am a simple kind of girl. She said it was one of the things she loved about me, that she has never had to try to figure me out.

Her comment was timely, because over the past few weeks I have begun to have this clarity about what is important to me, what I really need to live my life, and it is all pretty simple. It's not complicated at all. I have begun to feel a detachment from a lot of stuff, just sort of letting go of the superfluous. Letting go of expectations that other people should behave in a certain way, letting go of some of my "I always..." and "I never..." statements. An example is that one day I had the thought that I could live somewhere else, somewhere cold. I love California. I've lived here for 27 years. I love the warm weather and the ocean and the palm trees, and well I simply love it. And my kids and grandkids are here. So I was surprised to have that thought, that I am so open to what life might bring my way that I would be willing to live somewhere else, somewhere cold. Not that I have plans to do that; it just was interesting to find that I'm not attached to my geographic location. Where I live, apparently, is not one of my essentials. Who knew?

Ten more days and the year will be up. Where are you headed in the new year? What is necessary for you? What are your essentials?

Susan

"Burn it Down" written by Linkin Park