One ordinary morning on my way to work, as I gazed through the window of the taxi, something common caught my attention, in an unusual way. An electricity pole, cluttered with numerous wires. Some wires stretched purposefully toward buildings, delivering power and services where needed. But, what stood out to me the most, were the disconnected wires that just hung there, dangling aimlessly and uselessly – the dead wires.
It made me think about how, like those dead wires, we often hold onto things in our lives that no longer serve a purpose, or never did to begin with.
How many of us have people, situations and past experiences attached to us, that don’t benefit us? They just hang onto us, dangling in the winds of our lives, often causing distress, yet, we have not let them go.
Dead Wires in Our Lives
The purpose of an electricity pole and its wires are to support and deliver electricity and services (cable, internet, telephone) to buildings and homes. When these services are no longer needed, the wires are frequently disconnected from the buildings or homes and left hanging from the poles.
Due to high removal costs, legal issues and safety concerns, they are not removed from the pole itself. However, more often, they are not removed due to simple neglect, from the companies that installed them. Neglect, which can lead to serious problems later on.
What about us?
The truth is many of us are guilty of holding onto things we should have detached from our lives a long time ago. The moment we realized that this person, toxic job, relationship or bad habit was draining us, and negatively impacting our lives, we should have let it go. Yet, many of us have neglected ourselves, by allowing these personal dead wires to hang on and be a part of our lives.
What are some of your personal dead wires, that you know you need to disconnect from your life?
Here are what some personal dead wires can look like in more detail:
1. People (toxic relationships, friendships, family)
These are one of the heaviest dead wires many of us carry. But honestly, some people are just bad for our lives. A relationship with someone where its toxic and constantly causes emotional and mental turmoil is a dead wire. Friendships with people that lowkey wish bad on us, breeds negativity and is a bad influence on our lives, are dead wires. Even family members, our own blood, can be so unsupportive, negative and toxic to our lives, they too can be dead wires.
2. Negative and traumatic experiences
I know this is a sensitive area, and no one should be told to “just get over it”, but the effects of trauma and negative experiences can have significant damage on us. So much so that, if we don’t seek the healing that we need, we harbor those negative feelings, and they can cause more harm to our lives. It can begin to spill over into other parts of our lives and affect our relationships, our mental health, the ability to function at work or school, raising our kids and fulfilling our purpose.
3. Bad Habits & Addictions
Bad habits like excessive drug use to the point of overdosing, alcohol addiction, gambling addiction, porn addiction, self-harm like cutting yourself, can all negatively impact our lives. They are all dead wires which can be destructive to our bodies and our minds.
4. Negative Thinking
Negative thoughts like “I’ll never change”, “I’m not good enough”, “I’ll never succeed”, “everyone else is doing better than me”, “things will never get better”, “I’ll never find love”, “I’ll always be stuck in this mess”, are dead wires. These types of thoughts blind us from seeing new opportunities, they hold us back in life and keep us imprisoned in a cycle of self-doubt.
5. Fear of Change
Fear of change can paralyze us, where we stay operating in our comfort zones. If we always live life based on what’s comfortable, we can find ourselves in a place of regret, for not taking bigger chances and doing more with our lives. Fear of change causes us to give up on our dreams and goals, because we’re afraid of taking risks. We should not let fear stop us from pursuing what life has in store for us.
The Effects of Dead Wires on Our Lives
Dead wires can have negative effects on electricity poles as well as on our lives.
With the electricity pole, its dead wires can cause damage to the pole itself, its active connected wires, and even vehicles, properties and lives. Dead wires add unnecessary weight to the pole, which can cause it to lean over or eventually fall over on vehicles, people, animals or properties. Dead wires also occupy space, which makes it more difficult to install new functioning connections. Over time, they also deteriorate causing damage which can be hazardous.
Similarly, dead wires in our lives can cause significant effects, these include:
1. Weighing and Draining
As we hold on to our dead wires, whether its toxic relationships, bad habits, bad friendships or negative thoughts, they drain us of our resources. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, we become drained and weighed down. We feel like we are carrying the weight of the world on our backs, constantly fighting to get through each day, fighting to be at peace, to feel happy, to see clearly, and to exist in harmony with others. Life should not feel like that, at least not constantly. God told us to cast our burdens, not hold onto them, having them weigh us down.
2. Restricted Space & Time
Our dead wires often occupy a lot of our valuable time and room in our lives. Our time here is limited, and it’s a precious thing. When we waste it on people and things that don’t serve a purpose in our lives, we block better opportunities from entering. Likewise, when we allow those people and things to occupy space in our lives, we make it harder or impossible for new opportunities to have a place in our lives. Holding onto these things can deter our growth and advancement.
3. Stuck in Life
Allowing ourselves to cling to bad habits, toxic jobs or negative thinking can lead to stagnation in our lives. We feel like we are stuck in life and incapable of moving forward because it’s holding us back from living in and reaching our true potential.
4. Increased Stress and Frustration
Dead wires can add unnecessary frustration and stress to our lives. We have all felt how overwhelming life can become, so why would we hold onto things that increased the weight of that burden? Stress can eventually harm our health, mentally and physically, making our bodies sick and our minds break down. Its not worth allowing our dead wires to have that type of power and control over us.
5. Missed Opportunities
As briefly mentioned before, our dead wires can block new and important opportunities for us. Too frequently, we forsake and miss new, life changing possibilities, not because we haven’t earned it or deserve it, but because we’re focused on and occupied by the wrong things. We have to stay ready for when our blessings come, to welcome them with arms wide open and have them embrace their rightful place in our lives.
The Need to Let Go
Let’s admit, for far too long we have allowed these dead wires in our lives to take up residence. Its time to let go. Detaching them may be hard, it may cause us some pain and hurt, as letting go is never easy, even when the thing itself is bad for us, but we must. Though it may take some time, we have to start the process.
I am encouraging you to start right now, identify what are those dead wires in your life, sucking your energy, draining you, causing you pain and suffering, and write them down. Bring it to God, pray about it, seek the necessary help and advice you need, and start letting them go one by one. You’d be amazing by how freeing it is to finally release things that do not serve the plans and purpose of your life.
Not only will you make room for new connections and opportunities, but your vision for your life will become so much clearer and precise, as it’s no longer blocked by unnecessary, negative, soul draining distractions.
Hebrews 12:1 tell us to throw off everything that hinders us, and all the bad things that entangle us. Detaching our dead wires is the first step towards a better, brighter, energized life. It’s a step towards becoming the best version of yourself, not just for yourself, but those that will come after you as well.
Letting go is not easy, but it will be worth it. Your biggest flex in life will be choosing to live free and unburdened by dead weight, and making yourself ready and available, to embrace all the positive blessings life has in store for you.