Downsizing

CODA [koh-duh]

NOUN

• Music. a more or less independent passage, at the end of a composition, introduced to bring it to a satisfactory close.

• Ballet. the concluding section of a ballet, especially the final part of a pas de deux.

• a concluding section or part, especially one of a conventional form and serving as a summation of preceding themes, motifs, etc., as in a work of literature or drama.

• anything that serves as a concluding part.

The term ‘downsizing’ brings to mind aging folks getting rid of stuff they spent a lifetime acquiring so they can live more simply. It often is accompanied with preparing to retire, which is synonymous with visions of spending days relaxing and enjoying hobbies that there was less time for while in the middle of building the good life and acquiring the things that would one day go to the dump or the second hand shop. Or be passed down to youngers who are just beginning their ‘acquiring years’.

But downsizing also more or less represents the coda of our life. The wrap up.

However, there is another way to think of downsizing, regardless of age. Sometimes even a younger person can experience the liberty of letting go - and as the saying goes - letting God.

It’s less about age and ‘things’ as it is about epiphany. The realization that we often carry things on our way to the next threshold in our life passages - clinging to baggage we don’t need and thus weighs us down. We don’t realize that the mental/emotional load we have been lugging around with us really could be discarded as we move on with a new perspective.

It can be all sorts of things, like abuse, betrayal, disappointment and failure or even perceptions long held about who we ought to be, the person we have worked our whole lives to earn a title/label for. We are often preprogrammed in our youth to have certain expectations for our image, who and what we want to be seen to be by others.

Here’s a tidbit of wisdom - how other humans see us can go south in a heartbeat. Humans tend to be somewhat fickle that way. Social media is a classic confirmation for that. One minute you are a star, the next minute you are cancelled.

But then, sometimes, when we finally really start letting go, we might see more clearly and realize all that didn’t matter near as much as we thought. If we strive to be honest and do right by others, if we live with honor, we reach a time when shedding the things, whether physical or mental, that do not define us can make us exhale and breathe more freely.

But the most liberating experience is when we no longer have to strive to be anything in particular as the world perceives success. And it’s so okay.

Interestingly enough, that is when the noise and frenzy of self-striving is turned down a notch and we might at last be able to hear a still small voice calling us to do or be something amazing we had never thought of.

The mindset of downsizing can set you free to be something all new. No matter your age.