Let It Go

Last night while watching Joel Osteen, I was confronted with a problem I already knew I had.  Letting other people's problems consume me and being completely overwhelmed and exhausted by other people's drama.  Don't we all have enough drama of our own?

I already have this "I need to save the world" mentality.  I can't shake it.  I've wanted to start a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, provide a tutoring service, build a youth center.... You name it and I've probably thought about doing it at some point.  However, I still have no desire at all to wash dishes.

I've stood in the middle of kitchen crying because there are hungry children all over the world.  My kids will surely need therapy for that one. I've even  cried in the car all the way home, a 45 minute drive, because one person CAN save the world and that I NEEDED to be doing something.  My poor husband is surely traumatized by these episodes of  hormonal warfare.

But Joel Osteen said one thing that struck me.  Okay everything struck me but this was one thing I had recently related to - have you ever got finished talking to someone and you felt like you just ran a marathon?  I was like yyeeeeaaaahhh! (laughing)
I've talked to people and have been completely overwhelmed and usually ended up taking all that frustration back home and unloading it like a freight train onto my own family.  Well, nice going mom. Then, I'd sit and try to put together a "plan of action" to help them. 

My husband, the sensible one, is like just pray for them.

That's it!  I can pray but I need to be doing more than that.  Thinking cap is on.  When actually they probably needed to be doing more than that too.

And then I thought, "Oh Lord, do I do this?"  Knowingly or unknowingly, completely unload problems on top of people who are already dealing with enough of their own issues.  Oh, God I hope not.  If so, they're probably wondering why I'm not in a mental institution. 

But I need to learn to let all that stuff go.  I need peace.  Someone else needs it too.   I'll get so consumed sometimes with somebody else, that I'll forget that I actually have a life of my own that needs to be sorted out.  There is nothing wrong with helping people but sometimes you just have to let it be, especially when it's a recurring issue with a person.  When it seems like the situation isn't getting any better because they don't want it to get better.  You can't do the same thing and expect different results.  Example - Me continuing not to work out and expecting my abs to magically reappear. So I'm learning not to let other people's problems consume me.

Let it be, Let it go, and Let God.

But first, make one of these when you're unavailable.