Dont Know What You Got til Its Gone.........

Hey you! I hope you've being progressive thus far in this new year. Its been amazing for me in so many ways and I'm just grateful for each day and the new opportunities presented. :) I've been in a really 'reflective' mood here lately and saw a picture with the old cliche 'Dont Know What You Got Til Its Gone' and it got my wheels to turning and made me think really long and hard about some of the things that I no longer have... and if I truly recognized them for what they were, now and then.  In a lot of ways I agree with the statement and I've used it before but I'm curious what type of lens people are looking through when they say it, whether they view it positively or negatively, cause I think it can be used both ways. Frankly, more often than not, I've heard more people use the phrase negatively, meaning they are sad or down about the particular thing or person that they have lost and could have some regrets. It seems as though people looking at it this way didn't appreciate what they had while they had it and now a case of nostalgia has set in and has them considering all the shoulda woulda, coulda's of days past. Trust me, I been there too.... But just to play devils advocate and look at it the other way around what if we looked at the things we no longer have as God's way of preparing us to receive something even better? Sometimes, its not the good thing that's always gone, it could be the bad thing that we needed to get rid of all along. What if we pondered about what's now gone and how it impacted our life (mostly negative or mostly positive) and consider if it was adding to our life or taking away from it, I wonder how differently we would feel about it...

Lately I've found myself thinking about things that have come and gone in my life... people, stuff, jobs, friendships, not just talking about romantic relationships here, just in case you were wondering... and I thought about all these things I selfishly wanted to hold on to, for whatever reason, (sometimes knowing it wasn't good for me) and when I finally let go of what I thought was sooooooooo GREAT; I eventually came to realize that it was actually not really good for me at all (or at least not as much as I thought).  Looking back, there were friendships, relationships, people and things in my life, I had ALLOWED to begin altering who I knew myself to be and making me someone I wasn't so proud of and half the time didn't even recognize. It wasn't until I LET GO, or got away from certain situations that I could truly sit back and see from the outside looking in and see all the things I had originally missed with my blurred and biased vision.

Letting go isn't the easiest thing to do... its one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn. I've had to let go of friendships I thought would last until I was old and gray, I've let go of relationships with people that I loved more than I loved myself that were hindering me more than they were helping me, and I've given up jobs that wouldn't add any real benefit to my life or teach me anything, and it all hurt, every single time...it doesn't get any easier the more you do it either.... BUT the peace and joy I found in giving those things up were so much more worth it than the stress of trying to hold something together that was clearly broken.  If we find ourselves too busy holding on to the stuff that doesn't mean us any good, or isnt good for us,  what happens when the good thing (person, thing, relationship, etc) comes along... will your hands be too full holding the other stuff that you won't be open to receive something better?

Just food for thought...