Staying stuck in the past is definitely a hinderance to you being all that you can be. I know this all too well. I personally am a creature of habit and I love the comfort of familiarity. I’ve have had a very bad habit of clinging to what I know and what is familiar.
The comfort of going to the places I’ve always gone, doing the things I’ve always done, and being around the people I’ve always been around has always been my comfort zone.
With me being a very sentimental person, I relish in the memories of the past.
In addition to keeping the same routines, my sentimental nature has caused me to accumulate a lot of clutter over the years…mainly cards, letters, old high school and college papers, etc.
During a recent move, I realized just how much I had accumulated…It was overwhelming and exhausting.
I literally had to force myself to throw away many of these these mementos that were so near and dear to my heart.
But I knew in my spirit that this clinging to the past was keeping me stuck…
And…
I was going to have to release the past in order to move forward to a fresh start.
Here are 3 reasons why you must stop clinging to the past and resolve to let go of what no longer positively serves.
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It Keeps you in a Box
As I stated before, I am the queen of comfort and familiarity. I have always had a bad habit of wanting things to stay the same and I’ve always resisted change.
I definitely have been guilty of not just reminiscing about the past, but fighting to keep it the same.
But something I had to learn was…nothing, absolutely nothing, ever stays the same…
Things are constantly changing…whether you like it or not.
This is the nature of life…
And when you resist this change rather than embrace it…
It often ultimately leads to suffering and pain…
And your growth will be hindered…
because staying stuck in what used to be does not allow you to become new and better and refreshed.
2. It Keeps You Repeating the Cycles of the Past
As I stated before, I recently moved and discovered I had a ton of clutter that I had accumulated over the years.
In the physical realm, you don’t necessarily make the connection about how holding on to so much of the past keeps you from moving forward.
But holding on to all of those things kept me connected to those things and experiences, but it didn’t allow for new experiences to enter my life.
When I think about those years, I spent a lot of years going around in circles as far as my career and even my social life. I wanted to do other things and step out of the box, but it’s like I just couldn’t.
At the time, I didn’t make the association, but now, reflecting back after the fact, the connection is so clear.
3. It Impedes Your Growth and Expansion
On top of having accumulated all this clutter, another factor keeping me stuck was the fact that I lived in the same place for most of my life. The main reason for this is honestly because I wanted to stay close to my family…
Yep, once again clinging on to what was familiar…
And while doing so was indeed comfortable and familiar…
Staying in the same place and doing the same thing for so long only limited my growth and expansion and continued to keep me stuck.
With wanting to stay close to where I grew up I limited my options.
I limited my options as far as may career, my salary earning potential, better housing options…and even potential love prospects.
As humans we love clinging to what we know, but sometimes, to reach our fullest potential, it’s important to go beyond what is comfortable and familiar.
Are you clinging to past comforts and familiarity? Do you need a fresh start? Stop and assess how you can make changes to move forward today.
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Previously published on impartedwisdom.com
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