Letting Things Go

Days like today serve to remind me of the power of a positive daily practice. I believe I've handled being passed over for a promotion about as well as anyone could have expected. I went to work and tackled the things that needed to be accomplished. In terms of productivity, it's one of the most successful days I've had in quite awhile.  Some of that productivity can be attributed to putting my emotions into accomplishing things that needed to be done, some due to looming deadlines, and some due to a stubborn streak that just about refuses to let circumstances that have been out of my hands for some time deine my reaction to life.

Part of the resilience that I feel can also be chalked up to getting into a daily practice.  As has been my habit over the last several months, I wandered down to the USS Barry and captured some pictures on what will probably be the last day the she and I are together at the Washington Navy Yard.

Morning on The Anacostia - Walking up on the USS Barry

The Barry will likely be gone once I return from the trip that I'm embarking on tomorrow. It's a bit hard to believe that today was the last day that she'll be the centerpiece of some of my favorite photos that I've taken over the course of the last sixteen months.

USS Barry - Readying for the Next Step of the Journey

Her presence in the Navy Yard has lasted for over three decades, and I remember first seeing her in the summer of 1992 on a college trip to see The Navy Summer Pageant. I'm not sure when this tradition stopped, but it has not been performed since at least 2004. The only reference I could find to it even existing is in a 1985 article from the New York Times covering parade activities in the summer in Washington, DC.

Anacostia Riverfront at the Washington Navy Yard with the USS Barry

This will probably be the last view of the USS Barry that I will have.  Like the tradition of the Navy Summer Pageant, it is time for the Barry to move on and make room for the next iteration of happenings in this little corner of the universe. Sadness and a sense of loss is tempting at times like these, but I'm reminded that change is happening around us all the time, and any sense of stability is merely a sometimes helpful illusion to help me better manage the constant adventurous churn that surrounds me in any given moment.

One of the comforts of routine, or a daily practice, is the power it has to bring this adventurous churn back into a sort of loose focus. Today, one of the changes that I made was getting rid of fifteen items of clothing that have outlived their utility in my closet.

Minimalism - Day 15

Out with the old to make room for the new. It puts the prospect of missing the promotion into perspective. The act and practice of letting go forces me to realize that though I'm feeling uncertain due to the missed promotion, this event is merely another transition in the series of transitions that will define every moment of my existence. A port in the storm, so to speak.

I don't know what will happen tomorrow. I never did and never will, but I'll be grateful for the opportunity to experience it and endeavor to see it without too much fear and doubt for the adventure that it truly represents.