ANEW: The Art of Letting Go
I didn’t think I’d be one of these people again. The kind who holds onto things longer than they should, who pays for a storage unit filled with objects I barely remember owning. And yet, here I am, driving down another highway, thinking about all the things I need to get rid of.
For years, I’ve carried my life with me—whatever fits in a bag, whatever I can move from one place to another without much effort. But somewhere along the way, the past crept back in. Boxes of books I haven’t opened in a decade. Furniture that no longer has a home. And the sentimental stuff—the letters, the birthday cards, the small artifacts of people I love, some of whom are long gone.
Marie Kondo’s method, the famous Art of Tidying Up, suggests holding each object and asking if it sparks joy. I’ve tried that. The problem is, some things don’t spark joy, but they do spark memory. And memory is a trickier thing to part with.
The 10% Rule
So I’m testing a new approach. I call it the 10% Rule—a structured, systematic way to let go. Every two weeks, I’ll eliminate 10% of what I own. No overthinking, no nostalgia spirals, just methodical reduction until I reach a place where I’m no longer burdened by things I don’t need.
For the storage unit, the rule changes: 20-25% each round. The goal? To empty it completely. Because if something’s been in storage for years, let’s be honest—I don’t need it.
What to Do with the Sentimental Stuff?
This is where it gets tricky. My mother’s old letters, the cards from my grandmother, the tangible evidence that someone thought of me, wrote to me, loved me. How do you throw that away?
One idea: digitize everything—photograph the letters, scan the cards, create a digital archive. But I hesitate. A picture is not the same as holding the actual paper, running my fingers over the ink, knowing that the handwriting belongs to someone who no longer exists in this world.
Maybe the answer is balance. Keep a few. The most important ones. A curated selection, rather than a hoard. And for everything else, I remind myself: memory doesn’t live in objects. It lives in me.
The Dumpster Approach
At some point, I’ll stop sifting and start tossing. There’s something cleansing about the act itself—throwing it all in a dumpster, feeling the weight lift, making space for something new.
Maybe that’s what letting go really is. Not just decluttering, not just reducing, but reclaiming space for the life you actually want to live.
And if I figure out the perfect method, I’ll let you know.
Curated Listening:
The great thing about sorting through songs that have been in your head, like ear worms, they can be in your head once, too. Here is one all the way back from 2014. Listen to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off,” HERE.