My husband shared that dream with me, so we embarked on a mission to find property, design, and build a home. At the same time, we decided to sell our existing home and move into a small rental during the construction.

 

Once we sold our home, I had a month to make decisions about what to keep, sell, donate, and throw away before we moved. And while that's pretty simple on the surface, it took huge amounts of mental, emotional, and physical energy to go through decades of stuff then decide where to put it all in just 25% of the space that I was used to. I was grateful for my project management expertise!

 

I must admit it was quite challenging to decide what was important to me. I didn't realize how attached I was to some things - not the actually material item itself, but what it represented for me. For example, my massive old-world desk that I purchased four years ago represented a huge growth spurt in my business, so I had an emotional attachment to it.

 

I also learned that I don't need to hold on to "stuff" out of guilt just because people gave it to me (like my great, great, grandmother's china) when I can give it away to people who would need or enjoy it more than I do.

 

I was reminded that home is where my family is and holding on to things with sentimental value is okay too.

 

How do you decide what's important to you? What are you holding on to and why? If you'd like to share your stories with me, please reply to this email.