The Cost of Holding On

I was digging through some forgotten corners today when I stumbled upon an old Silk + Sonder journal from June of 2022. It had never been opened, but when I finally cracked the spine, it fell open directly to a page with a poem that felt like it was written for exactly where I am right now. It talked about how we are trained to hold on to things we consider "safe" and how that fear of the unknown can actually end up killing our spirit.

It hit me so hard because, for a long time now, I’ve been feeling the weight of many years holding me down.

As I’ve been going through my things, I found myself paralyzed by one specific thought: "I should be making money on this." I looked at everything through the lens of a price tag or a potential listing. I was calculating the "worth" of every single item, thinking I had to justify letting it go by getting a return on it.

But standing there today, looking at all that clutter, I realized that these things aren't just objects. They are anchors.

The truth is that we often pay for our belongings twice. We pay once with our money, and then we keep paying with our peace of mind. I realized that the time I’d spend photographing, listing, and haggling over a ten dollar item was time I was stealing from my own future. Every item I felt I "had" to sell was just another mental barrier keeping me from being free and moving forward.

So, I finally started to move.

I began filling donation bags with perfectly good things that simply don't have a place in my next chapter. I stopped asking what an item was worth and started asking what it was costing me to keep it. The answer was usually "my sanity."

I’m still saving a handful of things for my garage sale and consignment, but for the rest, I am just surrendering. I’m letting those things go so they can be useful to someone else, and so I can finally have the space to breathe.

If you are feeling frozen by your own belongings or if the weight of the past feels too heavy to carry, I just want to encourage you to let it go. Your value isn't tied to the price of your stuff. Your time is your most precious currency, and your freedom is worth way more than any price tag.

I’m walking away from the "worth" and stepping into the lightness. It feels so much better over here.