Move through the Creek
Little things add up over time. The accumulation of a thousand small worries or hurts will damage you if they are not dealt with, processed, and moved through. In the same way, many small joyful moments will complete to a happy life, and reflecting on them only makes life sweeter. This is likely a common lesson I will continue to teach myself throughout my life, for it seems no matter what the season, I let certain things go unnoticed. I’m sure many other people feel the same.
When we do not deal with the small emotions that come to us, they come back to bite us. It can be anything that bothers you, no matter how small. It can be words that sting when someone hurts you, gossip you overhear about you, a nagging worry that appears a little bit more every day, or even the pain of loss that you let go unfelt. Sometimes it might be your fault for the emotion, such as bitterness or resentment you have for someone, and it magnifies little by little each day, becoming more profound as you let it grow. Whatever it is, it adds up.
What do you do with it all? You move through it. If we were hiking together on a trail and we came across a creek, the logical explanation would be to walk through it, even if our feet got a little wet. But what if instead, I told you that I would rather avoid it, walk 6 miles down the creek until it ends, and go around it? That would be crazy. Illogical. But that is what we all do when we let emotions go unprocessed and unrealized. We search to find the most illogical path that takes us far away from it, hoping that by avoidance it will go away. Yet no matter how far we try to walk away, we still bear the effects of it.
So move through the creek. Move through the little things before the creek become a river and bears more weight to wade through. Do this even for the positive emotions, the happy ones, that you might find a way to rejoice and sit in the moment, instead of letting it go unrealized. No matter the emotion, you must go through it. Process it, both internally and externally, and find a way to keep going through the creek.
