According to the Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus:
Detach: verb Unfasten or disengage and remove; impartial; unemotional
Separate, uncouple, part disconnect, free, undo, cut off.
In the midst of all those words is FREE. To detach oneself from certain things allows us to feel a certain freedom. Though the process of ridding our lives of the excess can be difficult often seemingly impossible, it is rewarding in its own way afterward.
Last night I cut my hair pretty short. I was nervous because I have always had relatively long hair but I did it anyway. I wanted a change and I wanted to have less to worry about in Panama. I know that I will not be able to take care of my hair as well as I should when I’m over there.
A little while after I got home, I went on a run. During that run, I almost forgot that I had cut my hair. I was still me and everything still felt the same. What had I been so nervous about? Why had the idea about cutting my hair been such a big/difficult decision?
On that run I remembered when a friend of mine was telling me about when she moved to San Francisco last year. Out of the entire story she told me, the only part that I found unbelievable and almost hearsay was the fact that both her and her husband moved there each with 2 suitcases! How is that possible? I moved up to Gainesville my last semester with only the necessary things I needed for the semester and it took two trips with my dad’s pick up full of my stuff. To condense that to 2 suitcases sounds unreal.
Now here I am, about a year since that conversation realizing that I need to fit the next two years of my life in ONE 80 lb suitcase. I have no choice now but to begin to learn to detach from things that are just excess in my life. Bart Yasso wrote in hist book “My life on the Run”, Live simply so that others can simply live. If nothing else, I think the Peace Corps will force me to live by these words. I am curious just how simple my life will get and maybe then, I will learn what freedom really feels like.
Separate, uncouple, part disconnect, free, undo, cut off.
In the midst of all those words is FREE. To detach oneself from certain things allows us to feel a certain freedom. Though the process of ridding our lives of the excess can be difficult often seemingly impossible, it is rewarding in its own way afterward.
Last night I cut my hair pretty short. I was nervous because I have always had relatively long hair but I did it anyway. I wanted a change and I wanted to have less to worry about in Panama. I know that I will not be able to take care of my hair as well as I should when I’m over there.
A little while after I got home, I went on a run. During that run, I almost forgot that I had cut my hair. I was still me and everything still felt the same. What had I been so nervous about? Why had the idea about cutting my hair been such a big/difficult decision?
On that run I remembered when a friend of mine was telling me about when she moved to San Francisco last year. Out of the entire story she told me, the only part that I found unbelievable and almost hearsay was the fact that both her and her husband moved there each with 2 suitcases! How is that possible? I moved up to Gainesville my last semester with only the necessary things I needed for the semester and it took two trips with my dad’s pick up full of my stuff. To condense that to 2 suitcases sounds unreal.
Now here I am, about a year since that conversation realizing that I need to fit the next two years of my life in ONE 80 lb suitcase. I have no choice now but to begin to learn to detach from things that are just excess in my life. Bart Yasso wrote in hist book “My life on the Run”, Live simply so that others can simply live. If nothing else, I think the Peace Corps will force me to live by these words. I am curious just how simple my life will get and maybe then, I will learn what freedom really feels like.
__ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Side story: My hair dresser asked me a million times if I was sure and every time I answered with more doubt in my voice. Her plan was to cut little by little until I said stop. The first level that she got to she said: “This is good trust me you don’t want it shorter”. I said: “Keep going, I don’t like this in between level…it’s not long and it’s not short. I don’t like being in the middle ground.” She said “ …so you like extremes”. I just laughed.
This woman whom I see once every couple months for at most ½ an hour was able to identify one of my personality virtue and/or flaw. Incredible.
Side story: My hair dresser asked me a million times if I was sure and every time I answered with more doubt in my voice. Her plan was to cut little by little until I said stop. The first level that she got to she said: “This is good trust me you don’t want it shorter”. I said: “Keep going, I don’t like this in between level…it’s not long and it’s not short. I don’t like being in the middle ground.” She said “ …so you like extremes”. I just laughed.
This woman whom I see once every couple months for at most ½ an hour was able to identify one of my personality virtue and/or flaw. Incredible.
No comments:
Post a Comment