People’s need to store stuff is at an all-time high. The self-storage industry is bursting at the seams as people scramble to save things they don’t need right now or possibly ever.
Why delay getting rid of stuff you don’t use? Selling it, recycling it or giving it away will free you from your past. You may want to move, but what would you do with all your stuff?
It’s hard to let go of your stuff because to do so means breaking the emotional connection to it.
As happiness motivational speaker and podcaster Gretchen Rubin suggests, storing something puts it in a limbo state. It’s not useful right now, and you get bonus stress of knowing you’ll have to deal with it later.
A minimal person only keeps what they use and lead a much more carefree life. They have let go of their past.
If you want to keep things, have a process to decide. Declutter and live more simply. The longer you hold onto something, the more likely you will keep it even longer.
Hoarding is an excellent analogy for how we hold onto other things in life like fears, resentment, hopes, and dreams. What if you were continually dragging your past into your present?
This is what happens when you don’t let go of the past. Who you are today is not who you were five years ago. Use your history to remind you, not to define you.
This blog was updated on December 26th, 2018.