Day 18: Grief

Grief

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Grief is a difficult emotion to describe.  Something that is felt not only when death takes those we care about from us, grief is powerful and often consuming.  Grief has a way of following you, no matter how quickly you try to run from it.  It could be silent for years and then in an instant, you’re overcome with waves of it that are debilitating in nature.

This time of year always seems to consume me with feelings of grief and thoughts of death.  It isn’t because I am a morbid person who can’t seem to find the happiness in life.  The majority of the time, I am actually a very happy and satisfied person in life.  This time of year just overwhelms me with loss that is difficult to describe.  My first significant loss was when my father passed away in 1998 on the 8th of March.  Five years later, my maternal grandfather died on the 1st of March.  I was close to both in different ways and loosing them left gaping holes in my heart that will truly never be filled.

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Day 14: Baggage

Every now and then, a person simple needs to clean up their lives… both literally and figuratively.  Baggage comes in both tangible and intangible forms for everyone and without a regular shedding of this baggage, we find ourselves weighed down by it.  There are many ways of doing this.

First of all, shedding physical baggage is the easy part.  You simply go through the things around you and anything you haven’t touched or used for a specific period of time (six months, a year… whatever you choose) you get rid of.  Don’t just throw it away.  If it is something that someone else could get use out of such as old clothes, then donated it.  There are always charities around that are in need of things to supply those in need with items they require.  If the items you’re getting rid of are more substantial or worth more than a mere few dollars, utilize online resources to help you downsize. Sites like Ebay, Craigslist, Etsy and others are great way of finding homes for vintage, handcrafted or items worth some money.  If you’re lucky enough to have the space for a yard sale, organize one.  If you think you don’t have enough items to hold one, hit up your neighbors and friends.  Chances are, they each have items that are gathering dust which they’d like to get rid of.  Find a tagging system so that each person’s items are easily identified.

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