The dinner table seems to be a great place to discover blog material, especially when you have a large family. Someone is always saying something prolific (at least in their opinion) or witty (my 12-year-old has wit way beyond his years). Now that mom is a blogger, they love to give me suggestions on what I should write about. I usually don’t need (or use) the suggestions because I feel my blogs turn out better when I find the ideas randomly, but because of the new year and in light of what’s going on with my book journey, I thought this blog suggestion was one worth taking. I’m not sure what the actual quote is, or who I should give credit to, but I’m sure you’ll get the gist.
Leave your door open for people to walk through
Leave your door open for people to leave through
And tell the people who are standing in the threshold to move out of the way because they are blocking traffic.
Come on in…
Here I go again with the analogies…I would say my front door (personal life) is pretty much open all the time. I’m a friendly person and really like meeting new people. I seem to do it everywhere I go and my friends and family are amazed at how many people I actually know. I’m relatively open about my life and usually engage with people in a sincere manner. Because, well, why not?
However, I don’t let many people have the keys to open all of the doors in my life, just the front one. I’m way more discerning about who has free reign. With that said, for the most part when you are invited into my life, really invited in, I’m thinking you plan to stay awhile. If you are not, please go find another door to knock on.
If someone doesn’t want to stay, do you really want them to?
It’s hard to let go. Please let me know if you disagree. I’m referring to anything really, but it’s especially hard to let go of people who have been in your life in a significant way. Sometimes it’s not your idea either, which makes it even harder to let go. As our lives change, so do our relationships with people and sometimes we end up going in different directions. If someone needs to leave, we need to let them, because nothing good comes from forcing someone to be in a relationship they aren’t committed to.
If they’re meant to be in your life, they’ll come back. If not, then you are better off without them in it. Take the positives from what you got out of the relationship and focus on what you learned and how you grew as a person. I try and do this because I really do believe that people are put into our lives for a reason.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
I can take a very quick trip down memory lane and think of a whole lot of times that I should have shown people the door a lot sooner than I did. Looking back, I can acknowledge that I was young and in certain cases, didn’t always have the tools I needed to make wiser decisions about who I allowed in and who needed to go. I let these people stand in the threshold and cause a traffic jam.
As I have grown older, I can more easily identify when a relationship is not worth hanging onto and in those cases, I point toward the exit sign and show those people the way to the door. It may sound rude, but if people who aren’t making the commitment to really be part of your life are blocking the door, new people who want to get in won’t be able to.
Doors are meant for walking through. You can enter or you can exit, but don’t just stand in the middle.
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