What it represents to me...

(click "reply" to add what it means to you. Maybe you will voice the feelings of someone else who comes here and thought they were the only one who felt that way?)

Sometimes I feel sad when my things are gone. I sometimes have remorse when I get rid of something, even now. But, my desire to succeed in getting myself out of this mess (literally and figuratively) is stronger than my desire to be sad over the things that I no longer have.

Initially, when I was starting to try to get a handle on why my things were do important to me, I realized that I felt that they were actually a part of me -- they helped define who I was. I think, in part, this was because I had used them so much as a way to make me something that I was not. In other words, I was buying things to fill certain voids in my life and by buying them I was creating the kind of person I wanted to be....not, perhaps, the person I really am. So, it was initially really difficult to get rid of these things that represented all of the possibilities of who I could be. If I got rid of them, it would mean I was a failure.

Additionally, I was brought up to be very sentimental about things. People, not so much, but about things.....dolls and toys -- even food -- have feelings. I can still hear my dad saying 'eat that last pea on your plate, that lonely little pea, it will feel bad if nobody eats it'. Or, 'you had better put some clothes on that doll...it will get cold'. There are more examples of this, even buildings and cars had feelings, too! I would try to part with things in an effort to clean out and was constantly stymied by my misplaced emotions to these things. I now realize that inanimate objects to not have feelings. I can be sentimentally attached to them, but they don't actually feel anything.

There is also the whole rescuing thing. I have felt a great need to rescue things. Once rescued, then I feel responsible for it and feel like I need to give it a home. Of course, one cannot give everything a home. I have come to realize that I cannot properly care for everything that needs to be rescued, so I have stopped trying to rescue and have concentrated on what I am really responsible for -- myself and my family.

For the most part now, I am happy when I am able to let things go. I feel good about passing them along to others, especially organizations that help the handicapped and disadvantaged children. I don't concentrate on trying to find the perfect home for something, but if the things can go to a worthy cause, it makes me feel really good!