Letting go isn't always easy and it has been something I have been working on with more intent over the last few years. We downsized a few years ago and while getting the house ready to sell I could not believe the amount of stuff we had held on to over for our 30 years together. I was overwhelmed with the amount of things I had to sort through and was almost paralyzed when trying to figure out what needed to go before the house could be shown. I spent time in the basement in our storage room rooting through boxes and the memories that were triggered while doing so were really unexpected. My kids were grown and out going on their own and I still had some of their old toys, videos, games and such that we should have rid ourselves of years earlier. I remembered my son playing with his Tonka trucks, moving up to Pokemon cards right on to video games (and I still had some things left from each phase). I found my daughter's old dress up trunk and Barney video's and even an American Girl doll. I went though those almost reliving those days and feeling a little sad that time had moved so fast and that piece of my life was over. I was able to clear all of those things out after sorting and I felt a little lighter. It made me feel so much better that I was ready to keep going. I was amazed as I went though the rest of my things and realized they were sort of grouped by age...mine and theirs! I actually found a box that held my extra wedding invitations and matchbooks (does anyone even do that anymore?) and my wedding and shower pictures. I found a few wedding and shower gifts from almost 30 years ago that were still boxed because I was always waiting to use them for a special occasion. That made me really sad but I held on to the nicer things and I am using them all the time because I now recognize every day is a special occasion. I was still overwhelmed and had LOTS more to go through and get rid of before we put the house up. I called in the big guns to help me finish and two of my sisters showed up the next week and we really got down to business. We quickly moved out things that were of no value to me and I could actually feel the difference in myself when they were gone. We found old pictures of us and we had a great time sharing memories but they kept me moving and focused on our task. We made progress pretty quickly because they were relentless with me "you don't need this" or "you will feel so much better when all this is gone" and I am so thankful they stepped in to help. When we finished up and had either thrown or given away all that stuff I did not need it was amazing how much lighter I felt both physically and emotionally. I never realized how much energetic weight all of that clutter carried and how much freer I felt without it. Once you start moving things out it feels so good it is hard hard to stop! I now set my intent to only hold on to what makes me feel good, letting go of everything else. Letting go of physical things has become so much easier for me. I am working on doing that in my relationships too...stay tuned!
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