Deadwood
“ What should move forward in time with me, and what should be let go as if its deadwood?- Jordan B. Peterson
Deadwood, we all have it. They are all the things about ourselves that we don't like very much. They are all the ways in which we come up short, by our own definition. They are all of the ways in which we are insufficient. They are the things that get in the way of who we know we could be. They are your bad habits, your vices and all of your personality flaws.
This deadwood, however, does not have to move forward with you in time. You can dispense with it. You can burn it off.
In order to burn this deadwood, we must first identify it. We cannot burn a part of ourselves unless we know exactly which part it is that we’re burning.
One way of doing this would be to list out all of the things we do that we know we should stop doing.
My personal list looks something like this:
- Watching YouTube
- Watching Netflix
- Going on Facebook
- Procrastinating
- Eating Sugar
These are all the things that, if I completely eliminated from my life, would yield me the greatest return in the form of productivity and fulfillment.
Gradually, one day at a time, start burning off these habits and bad tendencies. Understand, that they are deadwood slowly pilling up, and that if they continue pilling up a forest fire will emerge.
It is easier to take the fire out while it is only a small fire, don’t wait for the forest to be burning.
You are reborn, hopefully a little better, each day.
“Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” — Buddha
It is certainly useful to view each day as a rebirth, an opportunity to correct yourself and fix all of your past mistakes.
Often, we find ourselves in spirals whether they are negative ( a rut) or positive ones (upward spiral). For instance, the fact that I cheated on my diet yesterday only makes it more likely that I cheat on my diet today and tomorrow. We say to ourselves, “I already screwed up, might as well eat another pizza.”. This can go on for days, weeks, months, and even years.
If we, instead, disassociate ourselves from who we were yesterday, and treat every day like a blank slate and forgive ourselves for the mistakes made , we can learn from those errors and grow wiser and stronger from them.
Each day is a blank slate.
Each day is an opportunity to be better than you were yesterday.
Each day is a chance to burn off a little more deadwood.
