Growing up in a middle-class, big household where items owned never truly belonged to you but got shared or handed down to younger siblings, I learnt the art of letting go early on. The things that I appreciated most and guarded jealously were novels that I bought with my meagre pocket money earned from doing chores and odd jobs. Searching the pits of my memory, there’s nothing that I recall having such attachment to except one plastic doll that I vaguely remember and can no longer recall what happened to her.

From my younger days, I have always viewed material things as just being ‘material things’ that depreciate over time, that can get lost or get replaced, and life’s lessons has also taught me that holding on too strongly to things that would eventually become physical clutter can drain your mental energy and increase stress. They anchor your focus to materialistic possessions that you will die and leave behind, while someone else uses them to make firewood. I consciously try my best to eschew clinging to grudges and outdated perspectives that tends to keep me mentally trapped, slows down my emotional growth and actively enjoying new experiences.

With the passage of time, I have truly come to realize that our most valued possessions are how we love and treat ourselves, our relationships with the people we love and who love us back and the wonderful memories that we create whilst living our mundane lives. These are the things I cherish more nowadays and will never master the art of letting such things go.

This is just a thought with no particular sequence. So how about you? Are there things that you have outgrown – physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally et al that you need to let go of? Would you give it a thought?