The Advantages of Letting Go

 Letting go of stuff becomes so much easier once you let go of the fear of living without it. I can tell you from personal experience, that in the past few years of selling and donating more than 50% of my stuff, I’ve never once missed anything I let go of, or regretted my decision to give something away. In fact, each thing I let go of gave me momentum and confidence to let the next thing go. Courtney Carver, of Be More With Less.

Over the past few days I’ve been going through my things, trying to get rid of excess junk and clutter in my home, and in my digital space.

My clothing and household items seem to multiply and it feels like I have to pare things down every six months or so. I’ve started the process, but I am only about a quarter of the way through my house.

In my digital realm, I have four email accounts, ten social networking accounts, and two blogs, (this is the only one I contribute to, so I’ve decided to stop procrastinating and take down the old one).

I’m pretty sure I am deleting a few social networks. It’s been on my mind for a while now, but  I have yet to do it. I’m still narrowing down which ones will stay and which will go.

I know as a budding author, that move could seem like career suicide, but I can’t stay on top of all those connections and maintain my blog the way I desire and write as much fiction as I want. I was a writer long before I was a social media user, and I’ll be writing long after the social media bubble has burst.

Today I closed an email account I used for my old freelance work, and I’ve spent the better portion of the long weekend going through drawers, shelves and baskets in my house. I honestly don’t know how we accumulate so much random stuff, but I must admit it feels really good to let go.

I feel like holding on to unnecessary things, whether tangible or digital, can bog a person down. I’d like to take that thought one step further and say holding on to stuff can hold us back (I think this is especially true in the case of holding on to old feelings or past wrongs).

Life is hard enough and we all face plenty of challenges without adding to our struggles. I definitely don’t want to be held back. So to the thrift store and garage sale my superfluous things will go.

From this purging I think a lot of other things will fall into place. In fact I know they will. I’ve seen it happen before. When I rid myself of useless items, I seem to get just what my life needs in return. And I’m ready.

My heart is open and my arms are spread wide. I’m letting go.