I struggle when people unexpectedly put things on my plate.
Balancing my own daily chores is more than enough.
When one more thing is added to that plate, it can derail me.
It can even take me down to a dark world.
I used to judge myself when I felt like I could not handle things.
I should be able to handle more.
After all, I had been through so much.
This added item on my plate should be no biggie for me.
And this is what I learned.
My plate is heavy to begin with and even the addition of a small tomato, can make it impossible to carry.
Someone else may be able to have a five course meal on their plate.
It doesn’t mean that they’re stronger, it just means that their plate is lighter than mine.
You see, the plate you and I carry, is made of a lot of pain.
Pain is heavy.
Heavier than ceramic.
Our plate has more of a cast iron weight.
Imagine adding a 5 course meal to a cast iron plate.
And then imagine this, someone asks you to carry their plate for the day.
You add their plate on top of yours.
You carry both, all day long.
Then you go to bed at night and try to figure out why your day was hard.
After all, your plate was empty, and their plate just had leftovers.
It should have been easy.
But we forget that our plate is made with cast iron when we let people pile their own buffet on it.
After all, our plate appears empty.
We must stop adding to that cast iron plate.
We need to learn how to get that tomato off and put that plate down.
And maybe take a nap.
For a few days in a row.
Once that is done, then we can talk to someone about how we carried a cast iron plate all this time and we didn’t know it.
We have to find our way to maybe once again own a plate with ceramic in it.
And we can eat with the rest of the world a five course meal.
Maybe.
And if not.
To be ok with not letting others pile on our plates.
I try and try every day, for the emptiest plate possible.
I hope you do too.
Especially now.
With love,
Christina
P.S Here’s this week’s amazing Dear Life Podcast if you haven’t heard it yet.
