Letting go… I remember when I was a teenager I really liked music, I used to collect vinyl, CDs and even band posters that I thought were great. I bought magazines, I knew how to play most of the songs on my guitar and that was my world. At the time that MP3 started, I remember to transfer several songs to my HD and save my CDs (complete collections of artists I liked) so that they would not be damaged.
I couldn't imagine my life without the many CDs and materials I had from the bands I liked, it was impossible to get rid of that lifestyle and let go, but in the middle of things, things changed.
My CDs were stolen during a renovation at home, my hard drive crashed and everything that was extremely important to me was gone.
This moment was a little difficult because what I had collected years ago was gone all of a sudden.
Dealing with loss is difficult
How we react to that loss is something else. Although inevitable, most of us are surprised when this happens - helpless by the emptiness of something we had and which we now lack.
When I discovered minimalism and started cleaning my life many years ago, fear took over me. Each item he removed seemed like a small voluntary loss and part of a memory that was going away. I often kept an item for a while, thinking, "What if I need it in the future?"
The “what if” thought delayed me in my process of letting go.
Despite the discomfort, I learned to put aside my unnecessary material possessions. Of course, some things were more difficult than others, and some took longer than others. But slowly, persisting and not giving up, I started to see how the loss leads to the gain.
Here are some lessons I learned by leaving intentionally:
Let go, Everything is fleeting.
Time passes, time flies ... and it changes our perspective of loss. Fortunately, I am still not suffering from the loss of my CDs and songs. Although the losses may be painful at first, it is a fleeting sensation.
If you hesitated to throw away something you never used "just in case", accept the loss, let it go, and see how you feel a few months later. My guess is that you will lose nothing after you finish the ripping in your life.
Letting go break the chain of materialism.
There comes a time when we must question whether materialism allows us to live the life we would like to lead. By choosing to let go, we press on society's norms and messages that say we must consume more to be happy.
Something changed in me years ago and, by playing things I bought because I thought I would be happy, I made a commitment to become minimalist. This was my first radical step, but I needed to persist in doubts, fears, and losses.
Let go and define what is important.
If the things we own no longer define us, what does it do? Well, this is for you to decide. For me, “the loss” allowed me to focus on my family, friends, and life project. We must question what today's potential feelings of loss may be preventing us from becoming, doing, and supporting.
Losses can be restarted.
Avoiding the materialistic messages of our society, consuming less, organizing more, and becoming a minimalist can involve losses. It is a powerful feeling that can prevent us from acting and changing our ways. Conversely, we could move completely away from the very concept of loss, see the act of letting go as we go back, and set aside time for more of what matters to us. From this perspective, loss becomes a positive force for good. Minimalism is not about the things you remove from your life - it is about releasing your life to add things that are really important.
I hope it made your day a little better.
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