You Can Take It With You, But Here's Why You Shouldn't

Each moment is like a grain of sand. Broken glass and sea shells, coral and pieces of life lived. It sits

on the shore, just waiting to be touched, waiting for us to touch it.

Each moment of our lives is just a piece of sand, coming together to make up the shore of our whole existence. And if we let it, it can start to bury us, to consume us. It can make us rough, covered from the warmth of the sun, hidden under the mass amounts of experiences we have to live.

I'm working on letting go. I'm working on walking away from things that no longer serve me. I'm working on letting memories be memories, letting them be what they were, but leaving them in the past. Good memories and bad memories, and horrible ones, and wonderful ones, because if we carry all of them with us, if we try to hold on to each piece of sand, we won't have any room left for new ones.

If you allow each grain of sand to cling to you, eventually you'll become heavy, weighed down. because whether it was a beautiful or horrific grain of sand, it still weighs the same. The more you try to hold on to each grain of sand, the more you live in the past, unable to keep walking on your own personal beach, that was made just for you.

Eventually, your skin will become rough, like sand paper. You'll be grainy and course.

Eventually, your lungs will fill with sand, like an hourglass, and you'll find it hard to breath. You'll find it hard to take in new air and exhale the old, to move on.

Eventually, your legs will be weighted down, like sand bags. Each step forward will become more difficult, more tiring. 

When your stomach fills with sand, you won't be able to taste the new, rich flavors that are coming your way. You won't be able to savor each new moment that the universe is cooking up, just for you.

When you head fills with sand, you won't think clearly anymore. Everything will be beige, instead of brilliant and light and majestic and fantastic. 

Your eyes will fill with sand and you won't be able to see all the beach that is ahead of you. You won't be able to see the beauty that is unfolding in front of you, just for you.

And when you heart fills with sand, all those grains that you've picked up along the way, your heart will cease to beat. Filled with so much sand, it won't be able to pump blood through your body, you won't feel the warmth of all the new love that is awaiting you.

So brush it off. Let it go. Rinse yourself in the waters of your ocean and clean yourself again. Continue walking down that beach of life. Sure, some will stick to your toes and the soles of your feet, and that's OK, the recent past is always with us, even when we try to stay ahead of it.

And know that if you ever need to call upon one of those moments, if you ever need to revisit some part of your past that you really can't seem to let go of, that grain of sand will be waiting for you. It'll be on your beach, just where you left it, making up the shore of your lifetime, and you can always go back and pick it up again.

Just don't take it everywhere you go from here. 

You have a lot of walking left to do, and the beach is long and beautiful. 

And the sun is shining.