Breaking down to break through

“We ain’t breaking down, we’re breaking through.  It’s called the road less traveled cause not many people do.”  — Kyle Hutton & Trent Willman, The Extra Mile

Kyle had to remind me of this yesterday.  I frequently forget what it takes to experience breakthrough. I forget where I must go to find it and I don’t usually go there without a fight.

Breakthroughs require feeling feelings I don’t want to feel, they require looking at behaviors that I don’t want to look at.  They require accepting things I may not want to accept and letting go of things that I’ve clung to tightly.

For some reason my closet comes to mind. It’s a mess and has been a mess for sometime now. I have piles of clothes that need to be washed and piles that need to be mended. I have scarves and belts on the floor that need to be organized. My hanging clothes are packed too tightly with many items I haven’t worn in years, yet still hang there waiting for me to let them go.

When I walk into my closet I immediately feel overwhelmed and anxious. Although clothes surround me, I feel as though I have nothing to wear. Buying new clothes alleviates the stress temporarily, but actually contributes to the problem in the long-run.

I know what needs to be done to solve this problem, and I know how to do it.  It will require me to sit in a place I don’t want to sit and make decisions I don’t want to make. I’ll have to drag everything out and sort through it.  I will have to practice letting go of things that may be hard to let go of. But, when I am done, I will be able to see clearly.  I may find things I thought I had lost. I will have tossed things that needed tossing, mended what needed mending, and given what needed giving.

I will also need to remember that, as with everything in life, it will not stay that way. It will become cluttered and I will need to go through the entire process again. I guess I am kinda like my closet.  Sometimes I just need a little cleaning out.  When those feelings creep in that tell me things I don’t want to hear or I experience emotions I’d rather keep hidden, I will hopefully remember that I am just experiencing breakdown so that I can BREAKTHROUGH (and not many people do)!  Give the song a listen…It’s really good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egTodOGoCWM