Heavy load.

I love this analogy of the bricks. I've heard something like it before related to letting go of your past... how heavy the bricks are that we carry but we don't realize their weight until we've dropped them. But using the bricks to build the same house? This is a new one, and it's golden.

It's easy to get stuck in the same holding pattern for life. No matter how much we say we might want to change, our gut tends to go with the familiar. Even if the familiar is unhealthy and toxic. Which, to me, is why accountability is so important. Sharing your frustrations, worries, goals, and aspirations with other people so they can call you on your stuff. So they can help remind you of not repeating the past. So they can help remind you of doing bigger and better things.

Letting someone in on your desires to change not only provides accountability, but it also builds in support for when the days are challenging and you feel like you can't keep going. It provides reassurance that you're doing a good thing. Nothing is better than hearing the words, "You've got this!" and knowing that it's heart-felt.

The familiar is just that.... familiar. And if we do what we've always done, we're going to get what we've always gotten. Drop the bricks. Let go of that heavy load. Build a fresh new house with beautiful, healthy bricks.