Value (or, choose your own treasures)

I read some organizing tips today. I couldn’t help it.

Some of those tips were good and useful.

But this one? Not so much.

“It’s healthy to be attached to certain items—a vase you picked up in Paris, your grandmother’s pearls. But holey concert tees or cheap, scuffed earrings your husband gave you years ago?
Just let them go.”

Grrrr.

What if you had an awful time in Paris? What if the vase is pretty (and expensive), but it reminds you of your ex-husband who bought it as an apology after he ruined your honeymoon by sleeping with a Parisian stripper?

Those cheap, scuffed earrings from your other, much nicer husband? Maybe you love those. Maybe you still smile when you hold them. You’d probably even wear them sometimes if you hadn’t read so many articles about what’s good and what isn’t.

The pearls? Maybe you don’t care for pearls. Neither did grandma. (Her first husband bought them for her after he ruined their honeymoon. Long story.) But you both loved Led Zeppelin. That’s why she left you her tattered Led Zep concert t-shirt. Rock on, grandma.

Don’t let anyone choose your treasures for you.

Keep the things that light up your life.

Let go of the things that don’t.

Only you know which is which.

xo

~*~

Psst! Have you heard about The Treasure Project?
Four weeks of space-making, art-making and self-discovering. Beautiful.
Starts September 27th.