Unpacking

I recently arrived from a quick California trip so I proceeded to unpack my bag. It helped that the kids were interested in the gifts I brought them, so I started unpacking as soon as I stepped in the door. 

Unpacking hasn't always been this simple. This summer, it took me 2 weeks to unpack from a trip. I kept looking at my suitcase and the stuff that was there reminded me that I was no longer on the trip and I needed to resume life. 

Life sometimes leads us to trips, planned or not. We quickly pack our bags and off we go. I felt that my grandmothers quick illnesses were such trips. I had never been to that strange land before but there was not turning back. I quickly packed the faith, courage and grit I had and I journeyed till the end. It was tough to unpack once I arrived back home. It was nearly impossible to resume life as it was, so I left my bag packed. I decided that seeing a Christian Counselor was my way of unpacking from that trip. I learned some valuable lessons I am still using today. Those unresolved feelings tied my hands and I couldn't unpack my bags and go on with life until I grabbed a hold of those life lessons. No, it is still not easy to live without my grandmothers but it has been possible once I allowed myself to unpack. 

I find that other trips are quite planned, such as the ones I take as I learn to be a better wife to Zeke. I often look back at our own love history and I am giving the choice to unpack or to just to leave stuff inside my bag. If life offers me the trip, unpacking is what I do with the lessons learned in the journey.

I don't know if you are one of those super experienced unpackers or if like me, you are just exhausted from the trip and you don't want to deal with unpacking. 

I can tell you this much: unpacking has allowed me to experience a richness that my new normal has to offer. Through the trip, I have seen new sights and experienced new revelations in life. Because I choose to unpack, I feel lighter and released to live life to the fullest. Putting my feelings where they belong, coming to terms with them, has allowed me to have internal reminders of what I just learned, as opposed to outside clutter. The clutter of an unpacked bag shows. It shows through my dread and the constant reminder that a bag keeps waiting for me to unpack it. 

Friend, take the first step, whatever that is, to start unpacking and putting feelings and reflections where they belong. When you do that, you are not dismissing anything, you are just processing your feelings in a healthy way.