The Single Woman’s Dash of Sass: What Your Purse Can Tell You About Your Life

Quote of the Day:

“If you wanna fly, you’ve gotta give up the sh*t that weighs you down.” ~Toni Morrison

The Single Woman Says:

This morning as I was rushing to get to the office, a car suddenly whizzed in front of me out of nowhere, causing me to slam on my brakes to avoid a very messy collision. In avoiding the very messy collision between my fender and their bumper, my abrupt stop hurled my purse straight into a very messy collision with my floorboard. And I mean VERY messy. If you’re anything like me, you know the drill, ladies. My purse is the size of a small island and is always jam-packed with everything but the kitchen sink: makeup bag, pieces of gum that have maneuvered their way out of their wrappers, ink pens, hairspray, hairbrush, breath mints, hand sanitizer, sunglasses, loose change, loose Tylenol – and beyond all of those obvious essentials – a whole lotta junk.

Much to my dismay, the purse landed facedown in the floorboard, leaving in its wake a trail of sad gum wrappers and post-it notes and wadded up Kleenex. As I gazed upon the messy little pile of junk in my floorboard, it hit me – this is what I carry around with me every single day of my life. This stuff that, to an outsider, would likely look like nothing more than a pile of trash. And not only do I carry it with me, I guard it with my life. After all, a lady’s purse is, as Matthew McConaughey put it in “How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days,” her secret source of power. We never leave the house without it, we feel naked without it on our arm, and we rely on it to house our most important personal items that we can’t run our day-to-day lives without. Yet, despite all of its value in our lives, we still allow it to become overrun with unnecessary clutter; clutter that we don’t even realize has eclipsed all the good stuff until we run head on into trouble. My purse from the outside looks great: shiny black leather, silver buckles, just the right balance of trendiness and practicality. But when something unexpected came along (me nearly running head-on into another car) and the purse was shaken from its safe place (the seat next to me) and collided with rock bottom (the floorboard), the state of its true inner self was revealed.

One of Life’s favorite ways to show us what we’re made of is to allow us to experience a fall, or a crash, or a disappointment. And you know what happened? Once I came face-to-face with the chaotic disarray that was my purse, I was motivated to clean it out. To purge myself of all of the clutter that was bogging my purse (and my arm) down. To free myself of all of the nonessential distractions that were keeping me from being able to quickly and easily locate my keys…or my checkbook…or the things that I really, truly, needed…when I needed them. The really awesome thing about tossing all the junk is that now there’s room in my purse for new and better things. My glasses. My cell phone. My business cards. Even my laptop! Items that improve my life and allow me to do what I do and help move me to the next level. Items that wouldn’t have had a place in my purse had I not tossed the things that were weighing me down.

What’s weighing you down? What’s keeping you from living your best life? What junk are you currently making room for that’s taking the place of the good stuff that’s meant for you? Remember: the good stuff can’t find you til you put the past behind you! With summer upon us, there is no better time to take inventory of your life and let go of all the mess so you can clothe yourself in FABULOUS! You will find that the room you create in your life by ridding yourself of all the things you’ve outgrown will create a vacuum for all the things that you’re meant to grow into. So go ahead. Leave all the junk behind and let your inner Birkin bag shine! Your purse…and your life…will thank you for it.