You’ve done it before. I know you have. It’s called the “carry everything at once so I don’t have to make another trip to the car” walk.

It seems everyone does it. I have seen countless memes showing people carrying all of their groceries, in the most fantastic of ways, all in an attempt to not have to make a 60 second return trip to the trunk.

Gah! Why do we do this to ourselves?

Today, I carried a backpack, a shoulder bag, several bags of groceries, the mail, a box, and some leftovers up the stairs, struggling, stumbling, huffing, and puffing the entire way.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I almost died, having tripped over the laundry piled up in front of the washer (don’t judge me). I had made it to the finish line, but I’d brought along all my baggage, instead of just taking my time, and making a second trip. I felt victorious, but also exhausted.

Have you ever done this, metaphorically? I already know that you’ve *literally* done this before. I would doubt your existence if you could say you really have never overloaded your arms with plastic bags to keep from having to make a second trip to your car.

But how about metaphorically? Have you ever trudged along through life, carrying the excess, knowing full well you should stop or slow down a bit, and just take things a little slower, make things a little easier on yourself?

I struggle with this EVERY DAY. I struggle with it when things are going well; I struggle with it when life is kind of handing my ass to me on a silver plate. I am struggling with it right now. I struggled with it yesterday. Annnnnd, spoiler alert: I will probably struggle with it tomorrow, too.

But, I’ll keep acknowledging it and keep trying. I will keep trying to be kinder to myself, to at least stop and rest on the metaphorical stairs, even if I insist on continuing to carry all those damn metaphorical bags all at once.

Love yourself…

And until tomorrow…

(Image courtesy of UFC Memes)