Open Your Windows

This week’s topic was inspired by the fall-like weather we recently received that enabled us to finally turn off the air conditioner and open our windows for a few days at a time. My wife and I both prefer getting fresh air and it was liberating to feel the cool breeze blowing through the house and to hear the crickets at night (not so much for the train horns though, but a trade I’ll take). That breeze is blowing wonderfully today, pushing out the stale air and bringing in fresh, cool air. While we are enjoying the physical act of opening our windows, there is also a metaphorical opening of your windows.

The metaphor applies to opening yourself to the new and releasing the old. If you’ve been around long enough to be retired or to be thinking about it, you have picked up some baggage along the way. That baggage can weigh you down and hold you back. Just like the air in your house gets stale when your windows are always closed, you get stale when you let that baggage dictate who you are, what you do, and most importantly how you do it. Opening your windows is about opening your heart, mind, and soul to the present and the future by letting go of that baggage from the past. I’m not saying you forget the losses you’ve experienced or the pain you have carried around but moving forward with your windows open allows you to get yourself back instead of being controlled by that baggage.

As the weather cools, take advantage of it to open your windows to refresh the air in your house. And open the windows of you to refresh yourself. If you’re afraid of being cold, bring a sweatshirt, and enjoy getting back to the you that got buried under that baggage.