Do You Have the Guts to Face the Consequences of Your Past?

Don't wait too long to own up to your mistakes

Photo by Andrey Zvyagintsev on Unsplash

It didn’t happen overnight.

In fact, I was pretty much oblivious to the problem, until the day I could no longer avoid the issue and finally had to admit it: My closet simply didn’t have any more room.

Every time I opened the door, the truth stared me in the face. I wasn’t using most of the items stored in that limited space, nor did I have any idea exactly how long most of it had been lingering there, waiting to see the light of day.

It was time for a reckoning with my past.

First, I took full responsibility for the situation.

Perhaps I believed as long as everything I jammed into that tiny room would fit, there were no worries or concerns. My possessions had easily taken up residence, with no need or desire to depart.

What I hadn’t realized is that my closet was simply accommodating my irrational tendency to hang on to everything. I’d even added extra shelving to stack sealed boxes that hadn’t been opened in years — boxes that no doubt held meaningful treasures. If I could only remember what they were.

In my mind, I envisioned my closet having some kind of fluid magical powers, as if it could instantly expand the walls, enlarging the space so I could keep everything I owned forever — and within easy reach.

But like a restaurant sign clearly indicating the limits of maximum occupancy, one day the inevitable happened. I couldn’t shove anything else into that bulging, crowded space.

My closet was done with me.