Pruning

definition: selective removal of those parts that are not beneficial to one’s growth. 

I guess it’s been a long time coming, this removing selectively of things that are not beneficial to us in the long run, and not helping us grow. I don’t dread this part of my life. Sometimes, there are certain things and people, which may not really be bad for us, that are in a way holding us back from growing. Like certain hobbies that don’t really contribute anything long-lasting to us. I took Karate before and I enjoyed it. But when it came to assessing whether I needed it as supposed to just wanted it, I knew that I didn’t really need Karate in my life. Apart from additional expenses and consuming of my time, there wasn’t really any long-lasting or eternal significance Karate gives me that maybe some of my other hobbies give, like climbing. 

There are also certain people who we need to take out of our lives just because the relationships are not healthy and don’t help us grow. Today, I had to learn this the hard way. I’ve been contemplating for a while now about the friendships I have, which in most part, are not really the deep, kind of friendships I long for. They’re actually just mere acquaintances to me. I thought to myself: what would it lose me if this relationship ended? Would it affect me, would it affect the things I do? It’s not really being selfish: it’s just knowing who and where to invest our lives in. 

So in the end, although the pruning came very sudden, it had to happen. It just had to end that way. Because the goal of pruning is to selectively remove those parts that are not really helping us grow. If a relationship with a friend is not healthy anymore, then why prolong it? 

So I’m open to pruning and I liked that it helps me assess which ones are really important to us.