Reberb 10 - Let Go

Remember how I said I was going to be flexible with my commitment to this? Well, this was actually yesterday's prompt. I didn't get to it because my day was jam packed with preparing for my Chanukah party and studying for finals. It is a good one though - so I'm going to go for it today.

What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

When I first read this prompt Sunday morning I was immediately taken by the question. I'm obsessed with letting things go. I like nothing better than to go through our house and make a big pile of all of the things we don't need/don't use/don't want. 

I don't want to be defined by things. I don't want to be overrun with things. I don't want to hold on to material possessions just for the sole purpose of having things. And so I purge (my stuff). I tear my closet apart and purge the dress I will no longer wear, the jean jacket I've had for two years and never worn, and old jeans that don't fit. I tear our cabinets apart too and ask myself questions like "Can we survive with only 1 spatula?" and "What is the minimum number of mixing bowls we need?" I argue with my husband and try and tear his things apart too.   

I can be fairly ruthless in my crusade against things. My general rule is if we haven't used it/thought about it in 3 months, it goes. But, of course there are expectations. For example, I have a stack of old graphic t-shirts that I just can't get rid of. They remind me too much of high school me, of life then. So, I am saving them for a t-shirt quilt (at least, that is what I tell myself. They have remained in their original t-shirt state for quite some time. And I don't know how to make a t-shirt quilt anyways. But, that is besides the point). And books. I was raised with my father's sensibilities regarding books - you don't get rid of them. We have three large book shelves in our apartment all filled to the brim with books. We have old philosophy books, history books, art books, collections of poetry, fiction, and text-books. Mainly my father's books, now my books. Most of the stuff in our apartment will come and go. But, I plan on keeping these books until the day I die.


Interesting that a prompt on letting go led me to think about what hold on to. What do you think is more important - what you hold to or what you let go?