Looking out my kitchen window I could see a man perched in my birch tree with a chainsaw. After months of procrastination, we were finally chopping down the tree. It hadn’t weathered the last five years well during which time we had experienced a nasty drought. Birch trees love their water. Even with the drought ending this year, the damage was done and so was the tree.
For months we put off making the decision to chop it down. Maybe it would come back to its previous glory – there was still some life in it. The tree was a focal point – how could we take it away? The birds loved that tree – what would they do? And on and on. There are lots of ways to procrastinate when you want to.
Eventually we knew the tree’s time had come. In a big wind storm, a large branch broke off and the tree became a hazard. The tree had probably been ready for a long time. It was us who were hanging onto the dead wood.
What are you hanging onto in your life that really needs to go?
It’s easy to come up with an endless list of reasons why you can’t let something go. We tend to focus on change by looking back at what was rather than forward on what might be. We long for the way things were. We’re afraid of the uncertainty of what comes next. But in not letting go, you become stuck.
Do you need to cut some stuff out?
Are you keeping items that have outlived their usefulness or because they hold some perceived sentimental value?
Do you keep putting energy into relationships that are no longer working?
Are you stuck in a mindset that doesn’t serve your best interests?
Of course once the tree was down, there was a whole new perspective in that part of the yard. There was a wide open space with endless possibilities. Now there was the chance to try out some new sun loving plants. More room was created for something else like a fountain or statuary. And the birds just settled into the other trees in the yard.
When you hang onto dead wood longer than you should, you close the windows of opportunity. Looking out my kitchen window now, almost anything is possible.
