I have a confession.

There’s some stuff I have trouble getting rid of.

A couple of years ago my mom died unexpectedly.

I am an only child, so I had no one to fight me for that necklace, that vase, her laptop. I could keep all that stuff for myself.

I had a big yard sale and got rid of so much of it. But I also held on to a lot. It’s like holding on to the person. It’s like holding on to the memories.

She had been a bit of a hoarder and kept pretty much everything I made since I was 2 years old.

When she was alive I would go to her fridge and notice how much stuff was out of date/expired. I would throw things away for her.

She explained that she hated doing that because she grew up during the great Depression late 1930s when people didn’t have enough to eat. And WWII rationing when you didn’t waste anything.

I wondered why she still kept her fridge full of stuff even though she had enough money then to be comfortable.

It can be so hard to let go of things that remind you of a time when you were happier, or more connected to people, or remind you of youth, of your potential, what you had hoped to do one day.

But those things, all the stuff, can also suffocate you. They can stop you moving forward. Stop you focusing on the future in favor of the past.

Your destiny is full of unknowns. It can be scary. What if things get worse? What if I need that thing some day?

But what if holding on to those things clogs up the space that could allow new, enriching, exciting things flow your way?

It might just be time to open your emotions and life, to welcome in better times.