Leaving my Past in the Behind (or something like that)

Ok, so the quote is actually "Pumbaa: It's times like this my buddy Timon here says: you got to put your behind in your past. 
Timon: No, no, no. Amateur. Lie down before you hurt yourself. It's "You got to put your past behind you."  ~from The Lion King  , but I obviously remembered it a bit differently.


I am deep in the middle of completely resetting my life, in basically every way... from my career, to a possible move, to the current complete reorganization of my current living space. This weekend's project was switching my closet around from my Spring/Summer wardrobe to my Fall/Winter one. Yay fall!!

One thing I nearly always do during this seasonal switch is clean out things I no longer wear and either give them to Goodwill if they are nice, tear them up as rags if they are cotton and already ripped or torn, or possibly throw them away if they are completely unusable (this is a rare option for me, usually only reserved for items like shoes which are completely worn out). I actually find great joy in this twice-yearly ritual. I love being able to give things away which I no longer need and someone else might.

Oddly though, the last couple of years I have found that it was harder to give things away... for a variety of reasons maybe, but I think a big one was my lack of funds to buy new things to replace them. I'm not lamenting my lack of shopping but I found something odd (for me) happening during this time; unprecedented bouts of nostalgia. Over and over I kept seeing clothes and shoes that I no longer wear but simply could not find it in me to part with due to the memories and feelings they evoked when I looked at them... parts of my life I enjoyed remembering and, in a vague way, almost wished I could go back to. No, I do not want to go back, I too highly value the lessons I've learned and how I am much more comfortable with myself than I was even a few years ago. However, I love the memories, and do not want to lose them.

What I have now realized is that I can have the best of both worlds! I can take pictures of these treasured items and then give them away! I am incredibly excited about this, partly because of the space I will have in my closet, but also I think because it is part of letting go of my past and moving forward to a future which I am very excited about. Whole new worlds truly are opening up to me, things I never thought I could do or be are becoming realities, and I know that I cannot go where I want if I'm weighted down by the past.