#5 Breaking Down the Walls

They say everyone's got a few skeletons in their closet. We've all got parts of our stories we'd rather not share with the world. But, you can either keep them hidden behind shame or bring them out into the light. If you ask me, bringing them out into the light is a hell of a lot more freeing. It's not easy though, to break down the walls we build around ourselves. We fear that by letting others in we'll be judged. That we'll face shame and embarrassment.

That's why it can be so freeing to break down the walls that no longer serve us. This leads me to scary thing number five. With the help of a friend, I broke down actual walls in my house. I had a front closet that had basically become a dumping ground for my skeletons- both metaphorical and "real" (leftover Halloween decorations anyone?) and I decided I'd rather have the entryway of my home feel open and inviting than closed off. So, I picked up a hammer and swung. Hard. It was cathartic.

After that first swing, there was no going back. As the drywall crumbled beneath my mediocre force, I felt free. It was a total mess, but breaking down walls is rarely clean. It takes work. Sometimes we swing and hit and sometimes we swing and miss. As the walls came down, the energy of the space lifted. It's amazing what knocking out a wall or two does to change the feel of a room. Once the walls were down, my friend did the actual repair work to the drywall, painted, replaced flooring, all the things. It was freeing to no longer have a space where I just dumped junk. Sometimes we need to edit our environment in order to live a lighter life. It's worth it.

So, was this the scariest thing on the list? Definitely not. But it was fun. And it felt good to get out some aggression and break down some walls. Actually, I highly recommend it if you want to feel like a bad ass. Just be sure you have a supportive friend who knows what they're doing. And more importantly, one that doesn't mind sitting with your messiness while you figure out your junk.

Enthusiastically,

Marina