WTF is TOTT?
Sponsored by: a bowl of weed and Lily’s kisses <3
Alright y’all, it’s time to explain to you guys what the fuck Take Out The Trash is. What’s up with this random Instagram account and these sporadic blog posts?
First I should probably mention that my aim in these blog posts is for you to begin to understand how this idea came to be, but to do that I need to walk you through several experiences of mine that were truly defining for me (I’ve talked about some already). These were moments in my life that shook me to my core and made me question everything I thought I knew; moments that changed my life forever.
So perhaps I should answer the most important question...
What’s my purpose behind this?
What am I trying to achieve?
Well, we love a rhetorical question, so here's one for you—Have you ever had something on your mind that you just couldn’t stop thinking about?
Something so persistent that no matter how hard you tried, it kept coming back. Over and over and over again. For days, weeks, months—shit—maybe even years, you had this nagging thought on the back of your mind that just couldn’t go away.
It was so powerful that it took control over your emotions making you feel confused, hurt, angry, or upset. Until finally, one day you just fucking snapped.
Or have you not snapped yet? Teehee. 😳
No, seriously, this happens to us all the time.
And it drives us fucking nuts.
Not to mention it’s incredibly unhealthy for us on all fronts.
So why does this happen?
Why on Earth would we intentionally put ourselves through that torture?
Here’s my theory. There are two reasons as to why we put up with this bullshit:
1) We’re scared as fuck.
2) We don't want to accept responsibility.
Both are intertwined with each other, but they each contain different components that make them eventually branch out into their own entities.
For today I want to talk about the first one. (And kind of the second one too).
Fear
Fear has such a strong chokehold on us that it will literally keep people from living life on their own terms. This is completely understandable, right? I mean, come on, living life authentically as you are is fucking scary. Everything about it is terrifying.
Things become even more frightening when we reach adulthood because at that stage, every decision that we make is contingent on the actions that we take.
If we fuck up, it's our own fault.
If we succeed, it's our own doing as well.
Of course luck and external circumstances play their part; sometimes their role is large and sometimes their role is small. Irregardless, we still hold the power to influence what becomes of us, and that accountability keeps us from stepping outside of our comfort zone and doing scary sh*t that just might transform us into better individuals.
My god sister, Alex (remember her?), posted this tweet a while back, and I feel like it resonates perfectly with the message:
Back to TOTT
To be holding in all of these mixed thoughts and emotions is to act in disservice to our calling. To keep these feelings bottled up inside, to not allow your thoughts and ideas to roam free where they can flourish is to deprive yourself and your community of your unique gifts.
Coming upon this realization is often a painful experience. More often than not, you come to realize that the person who was holding yourself back was not your partner, your family, your friends, that place, or that job. The thing that was standing in your way was you.
I should know because I've gone through it before. And one day it just fucking hit me. Like a ton of bricks, that shit just came crashing down on me and holy fuck, did it hurt like hell.
What I experienced thereafter was the best/worst thing that ever happened to me.
But, more on that later...
Luckily, though, there’s a way we can invite fear into our lives on our own terms. There’s a cure for such things that exist in our heads. We can unlearn negative patterns and pick up on healthier ones. We can know peace again.
That’s TOTT.
TOTT is a space, a landfill if you will, for trash that demands to be taken out.
The riddance of all the thoughts, emotions, and ideas clogging up our energy channels and preventing us from being the best version of our creative selves.
So, with that being said:
Live Out Loud!
Give No Fucks!
Take Out The Trash!
🚮✨