Being Content With What We Have -- Do You Regret Losing, Misplacing, or Throwing Certain Things Away?

Hey Everyone,

We're always told to learn to be content with what we have, but what if what we long for is something from the past?

About once a year, I tend to do go through almost all of my belongings to take inventory and get rid of things I'm "needlessly" hanging onto.

However, there are times when this has backfired, as I sometimes get rid of things I later regret.

I'm right in the middle of my annual purge, and I'm finding myself really wishing I still had:

1. A set of bracelets my grandparents got me on a certain trip. They weren't expensive, but I was young, didn't really wear bracelets at the time, and never anticipated the day God would call them home. For whatever reason, the past few years, I've really wished I still had them.

2. Along the same lines, there was a specific birthday card my Grandma had sent me, and I kick myself for not being more careful with it. I've searched all my letter boxes, but across many years and many moves, I think it must have accidentally been thrown away. I get a little teary-eyed just thinking of it.

3. I had several articles and magazines I loved to re-read like a book, but for the sake of space, I threw them away. I never anticipated the day almost every magazine I enjoyed would go out of print (I can't remember which specific ones they were, so I can't look them up online.)

4. Miscellaneous little trinkets that reminded me of a place or people I spent time with.

I'm always torn between wanting to strive for minimalism, but then, sometimes years later, having this dreaded feeling of, "I wish I would have held on to..."

I actually pray that God will make me content with what I have, and not hold on to these emotional attachments.

I know I'll see my Grandma and Grandpa again in heaven, but sometimes it just hurts, you know?

How about you?

* Do you have a hard time deciding what to keep and what to get rid of?

* Do you hold on to a lot of things for sentimental reasons? Parents, how do you decide which of your kid's projects, toys, etc. to keep? What do you do when you run out of room?

* What things do you regret getting rid of, and wish you could get back? Is there anything you actually did get back, like buying a version of a favorite old toy on ebay?

* Do you have trouble being content without these things? How do you cope with that tough feeling of wishing you could get certain things back?

I'm always asking God to try to help me hold on to "just the right number of things," and get rid of what I don't need.

What does this journey look like for you?

I'm not exactly a hoarder... but by the time I throw something away it is very certain I will never miss it. So I don't miss a single thing I have actually gotten around to throwing out.

A few minutes before seeing this new thread from you, I had looked around my apartment and thought, "I have too much stuff."

And it reminds me of the line Bernadette Peters spoke in the comedy she did with Steve Martin all those years ago:

Sometimes I used to wish I had kept all my concert stubs so I could check what date it was I saw whichever
band I was thinking of, or who their opening act was. Heh. I used to also wish I had not thrown out certain
letters from someone I don't think I ever really got over, but then what use would those letters ever have
been to me over the years? They would have been an impediment to me just as much as pining over him was.

I truly envy this.

My parents are better at throwing things out than I am and often tease me about keeping "junk," but one of the categories I'm guilty of collecting are empty boxes and containers of all sizes.

Just last week, I found a container I'd had in my stash for years that fit something I needed to store perfectly.

And when I wanted to share some new beauty products with a family member, all the little jars I'd saved over the years were perfect for the task.

I'm always glad to have these things on hand, rather than having to go out and buy them.

OOOHHH, concert tickets... Although concerts weren't my thing, do you have struggles throwing out old band t-shirts, etc?

I have several t-shirts from several places I've been to over the years and even though they're worn, faded, and sometimes no longer fit, I always think, "I could turn them into a bag or something..." But I never get around to it. What do you do with yours, if you collect them too?

And old letters... Indeed. I was just going through my letter boxes the other day. I started corresponding with a friend somewhere around 2002, and sadly, I can only find letters dating back to 2008. I really wish I had those early letters!! It would be really entertaining to read our first impressions of each other back then, since we used to fight like a cat vs. a dog over most everything! Lol!

It's always only been a platonic friendship, but we were young and basically thought we could each tell the other one what to do. Now I joke that we're old and boring, because we haven't had so much as a simple argument in umpteen years.

I completely understand what you're saying about old love letters, though.

God has me periodically clean out things/momentos I have romantic attachments to, as I believe He's told me it gives my heart a clean slate in case I should meet someone.

And you are 100% right. For me, at least, hanging on to those old things would only cause further heartache.

I was never really big on merch, or any T shirt that "said" something on it, so those were never an issue, and T shirts in general were not really a staple for me outside of those I would collect to exercise in when I maintained a gym membership. I used to write massive missives to a few people, one of them being my closest sister when she went away to college and then procured her first nursing job in what seems to be the only city in the Northwest Territories, while I was relatively newly arrived on the west coast. I just looked up Yellowknife and was surprised to find the general search overview mention that it was named after the local Yellowknives Dene First Nation. I used to wonder who the Dene were, because Tony Hillerman mentioned them in his novels, which I very much enjoyed reading quite a few years ago. Anyways, my sister told me once that she hoped I did not mind that she read the letters I wrote to her to her best friend (they are still very good friends all these years later)... she told me they howled with laughter at the stories I told her. Now those are letter that are not mine though I wrote them, but I would love to read them now, almost fifty years later, to see what was so funny! LOL. I do not doubt that I was seeking to entertain her, and was always happy to know that my letters entertained not only her but her best friend also...

The woman I hitch-hiked out west with (with her ex boyfriend), after she moved to Alberta, used to get letters from me that would be thirty or more pages long. What in the world did I have to say that took that long to say???!!!??? LOL I am laughing here, even though I am pretty sure some of those letters would have me shuddering in horror, and this is all a bit of a sidetrack from your question, though being now reminded of that friend, I did find out she was deceased in 2018. And I discovered that on the day of her birthday a couple of weeks after she had passed away, having been alienated from her for a numbers of years by then, time and distance and life circumstances having done their damage, though I did try to find pictures I had taken of her, for I had so many! And I was sure her sisters would love to have copies of some of them, but I could not find my photo albums anywhere! I had some time before that culled and rebooked them, and then? I have no idea still what has happened to them. So that will be a great loss if ever I go through everything I own as I would like to at some point, to sort it all out, and pare it down some more, and find they are well and truly and mysteriously gone.

When I moved from Alaska to Wyoming, I sold, gave away, or threw away 95% of everything in the house. I wanted to get rid of all that stuff so that when I passed away at some point in the future the kids wouldn't have to go through all of it.

When I got to Wyoming I stumbled across a Veterans fly fishing group. I'd always wanted to learn to fly fish so I became active with them. I had to replace some things I'd thrown out in Alaska like hip waders and chest waders. I had imagined my self doing nothing but chores and sitting out on the front porch. I haven't done much sitting out on the front porch yet... but there are plenty of chores.

Just a few days ago one of my sons asked if I had a tent they could borrow in July when they come through on their way to some of the tourist stuff in Western Wyoming. Nope, I told him... where I had a few tents, now I had none.

Aside from the waders, so far I'm not missing anything that I tossed.

Occasionally some family member will show me an old photograph of me wearing something I used to love and I think to myself , where did those jeans go or what happened to that top ? ! I loved that outfit ! Then I realise I'm two sizes bigger than I was when I was young so those clothes wouldn't fit me anymore . I'm defo not a hoarder and I no longer enjoy buying anything , not even clothes any more . I wear everything until it's worn out and I only replace things that need replacing . I have some nice jewellery but rarely wear it . I do have a lot of cd's and DVD's , and I mean hundreds and hundreds 😵 , to b fair they belong to hubby and me and there isn't one that one of us doesn't really love and make use of regularly . I wish I had more photos , mostly of those I loved who have died . They r the only things that I wish I had been more careful to keep . Other than that , it's all just stuff and I won't need it where I'm going 😜 .

I kinda miss my old music collection every once in a while.

I'm just old enough to have seen the days when music was still reproduced and sold through physical media. I have fond memories from the independent record stores that used to be dotted across the UK. Leafing through album covers and sleeve notes which served as a visual backing to the new music I was listening to, that was my nirvana.

Off the back of that, I met like-minded peers and started attending music gigs, festivals and warehouse parties. When the time came to turn my back on my old ways, my music collection bit the dust. The soundtrack to my youth had to go, because I was hooked by the memories paired with the musical expression.

Nostalgia was always a compelling influence to me. And the music I lived for kept making time worn memories feel like new again. I really didn't want that attachment pulling at my coattails, not when I was taking my first tentative steps toward a better hope. So yeah, I incinerated a decade's worth of my then music library.

😵

Oh that's so much fun, going thru old letters. As a teen and in my early twenties I had many penpals, and I can't bring myself to get rid of the letters.

I like to think I hold things of this earth loosely, but I know there are some things I'm kinda attached to.

Very cool to meet another paper letter writer!

How did you find pen pals in "your time"? (Yeah, I know, I'm old.)

For me it started out with a teen magazine... I think I had to convince my Mom to write out a check for like $1.50 to send in a little form, and then I got someone else's form in return... I think there also used to be some other kind of paper pen pal ads in magazines, and the pen pals I had started "Friendship Books."

These were homemade little paper "books" where everyone took a page to write down their info, age, and interests, then sent it to the next person... When it was full, the book was sent back to the first person -- and that was a way of finding new people to write.

It's all so funny to me how we used to toss our personal info around like leaves back then!

I met a few pen pals in person and I miss it.

I've looked at the "modern pen pal community" online, but it all seems like people signing up for "exchanges" where they hope to land someone who sends them all kinds of goodies, but never send anything to the other person in return like they're supposed to.

I just really miss those days of getting paper letters in my mailbox.

Similarly, I met most of my penpals thru a Christian girls' magazine (Does that mean I'm old too? LOL. I'll admit I'm old fashioned )I just about lived for mailtime in those days.

It was always so fun to meet the penpals in person! Last summer I finally met one of them in person by accident! We were both at the same conference in another state and I was wearing a nametag. She approached me and when I realized who she was we were side by side the rest of the night! We hit it off great in person, and I was so sad it was the last night of the conference that we finally ran into each other.

The magazine I used to get.

I try to be a minimalist, and I do donate/discard things especially when I move. I keep a small amount of memorabilia, a few meaningful cards. souvenirs, and photos that are important. As for other things like certain clothes, furniture, I do not have much attachment.

Thank you so much for sharing the story of getting to meet your pen pal!!! What an awesome setup by God. I hope you get to see her again!

Back in the day, I remember meeting 3 pen pals (2 were across the country and one was from Japan,) and speaking on the phone with at least two others.

Those were the days when phones were attached to a wall, and getting to use one (in my family at least,) was a big deal, especially since long-distance phone calls cost extra.

How many people out there remember when the phone company considered "long distance" to be someone who lived on the other side of the block?!

It's always awesome to meet someone else who knows the joy of paper letters!

I really like how people are connecting letting go of old things with closing chapters and starting something new (often led by God.)

I know over the years, God has dealt with me about keeping some things from times when I had strong emotional attachments that would weigh me down (as people have mentioned here, things like music, photos, letters, etc.)

I know my soul feels "cleaner" when I get rid of these things but man, sometimes it can be very emotionally wrenching in the process.

I love hearing all your stories!

I've been getting rid of a lot of things lately. In the process of going through stuff, I've found a couple of crafts / drawings that my girls made when they were little. I thought I had lost them. There are some drawings they made that got lost when I moved the last time. I wish I still had those.

I always wonder how parents decide what to keep. If I had kids, I'd be in danger of needing a separate house to keep all their things!

As I was going through my letter boxes, I came across the crayon-scrawled notes and cards from the formerly young ones in my family, and my friend's kids who call me Auntie. I still have the rubber-band bracelets my friend's boy snuck downstairs to leave in the room I was staying in while he thought I was sleeping.

I will never be able to let all those things go. 💗