A change is going to come

The landscape is all too familiar; the buildings, the people, the timing—all common fixtures of our daily days; integral details that our subconscious holds no further than arms length to appease the whispers from comfort’s constant lobbying for the status quo. As creatures of habit, it’s easiest to sleep at night with the knowledge that our microcosmic world will resume as it was prior to when our eyes pressed the pause button. So overnight with no significant development, we awake and navigate our unchanged territory in an effortless sleepwalk. No rocking boats, only solid ground.

My life in the past six months have been marked by attempts challenging this urge for complacency and a tremendous desire for change (financial, career, more education, etc.)  Although minor progress has been made, my overall attempts have been futile.  This lack of success in my endeavors resulted in a manifestation of anger and frustration. My initial reaction was to outwardly place blame so I began to equip myself with weapons, consisting mostly of an acid tongue, F bombs and one-finger salutes. Upon preparing to launch my first assault, I quickly retreated upon realizing that I would be declaring war on innocent bystanders that had no control over my lack of progress.

During my retreat I had a chance to reflect and think of what I was doing that was preventing me from achieving the next step. After a few scream matches directed at my pillow to let go of the anger, I was back dealing with this stalemate. I had used everything I learned, owned, built to move forward, so what was the problem?

Two nights ago, I was trying to fall asleep and I started to think of the concept of change- to remove and replace. The wheels in my mind started to turn and I concluded that before a major change, before making a move, or departing from a position from where you are, one must purge themselves from unwanted or unnecessary people, places or items.

Yesterday, I started the process of identifying what is needed in my life and what can be discarded for me to move forward. I started with the tangible items first, unnecessary papers, old notebooks; garbage of the past if you will. It may take a few days or weeks to completely purge myself of the excess that has been nothing more than a distraction, but I know now that I have a starting off point and I know that a change is going to come.