When we moved, a box came with us that I refused to open.
I knew exactly what was inside.
It sat in the garage for months. I walked past it every day. Neither of us moved.
Finally, one afternoon, I opened it.
Silk. Color. A dress from a sailing trip to St. Barts. A blouse I wore all summer in the South of France. A coat I lived in during a fall in Paris.
The nostalgia hit me immediately.
The good ol’ days. A life that felt so full, so beautiful, so very me.
But then I realized, Wait a minute. You are still THAT girl.
That woman didn’t disappear. I hadn’t left her in a box. I’d just gotten busy.
Practical. Responsible.
I’d let life pile on top of her without even noticing all the ways I had abandoned her.
But she was still there.
Here’s what that box taught me: the spaces we avoid are always holding something – a memory, a feeling, an old wound, an unlived dream, a desire. You don’t know until you open it.
Mine happened to be holding a woman in silk who still has a lot to say and a lotta life to live.
This week’s podcast is about what your avoided spaces might be holding for you.
With Love,
What I avoid is often what I most need to face.
That closet I keep meaning to organize. That creative project I keep putting off. The spaces I sidestep are usually holding pieces of myself I’ve forgotten or abandoned.
When I finally open the door, I find what I’ve been missing.
Stafford Woven Hamper
There have been times in my life when laundry was a task I consistently avoided. The beautiful Stafford Woven Hamper has actually helped me stay on top of it.
The texture is gorgeous enough that I don’t mind having it visible in my bedroom, and somehow that makes the whole laundry process feel less like a chore I’m putting off and more like a ritual I actually want to do.
The Space You Keep Avoiding – and What It’s Trying to Tell You
Maybe it’s the corner of your closet you keep meaning to deal with. Or the catchall room that’s hidden behind a closed door.
We all have spaces that whisper at us, and there’s usually a reason we keep putting them off. Often, what we’re avoiding isn’t the mess itself – it’s so much deeper.
// TheEDIT
A weekly digital magazine by the School of Self-Image