It needed to be done. They were multiplying on the hangers and it needed to be done. I grabbed the whole rack of them, it must have been twenty at least, and pulled them out in one giant armful that I couldn't see over as I walked and dropped them in a pile on the bedroom floor. My jean collection now lay in a neat stack on the floor and a whole section of open space existed in my closet. Well, step one accomplished. They weren't going back until I went through every one of them and tried them on and made a decision.
With each pair of jeans there's a story. There is the pair I had my first horseback riding lesson in, (is that the day I became a real Texan?) and continue to ride in - just enough stretch to allow me to swing my leg over the horse to mount. I wouldn't wear them anywhere else. They probably shed horse hair as I walk even though they are washed after every ride. Another pair is the one that I truly wore until the material became baby soft. It takes a long time to get a pair of jeans to that state. And the stories go on.
So, it is hard to let go of them. I separated them into piles; ones that I was sure needed to be thrown out or given away, ones that I wasn't sure about and ones that I would keep. At least I was making progress. Finally they went on for the final fitting and decisions were made. A bag of beloved jeans made its way to the garage to wait for a Goodwill delivery date.
The same kind of process happens when we want to make a change or take a risk. We hesitate. We look at the risk as something that is too big to tackle right now or as a situation where we are not sure about the outcome and we put it off.
If we can just break it down into smaller pieces (i.e. smaller piles) and tackle it piece by piece, we are finally able to break through and make some progress. There are emotional obstacles to overcome, but they too fall. And the end is finally realized - (the closet is finally clear) and it feels great!
Here's to tackling a risk - bit by bit!