Throwing Things Away

Do you cling tightly to things and ideas for fear that others might take them if you loosen your grip? Do you find yourself hoarding stuff in your home and your head and your heart  because you are anxious about what might happen if you let go and de-clutter these spaces? I've seen this with my kids. They will all but forget about that shirt, that toy, that barrette but then the minute a sister wants it, they do again too. What is it about us human creatures that makes us so hungry to possess and protect our possessions?

I am feeling this, and keenly, with my writing right now. I am deep in the editing stage and it's time to cut the fat. I am slashing sentences and whole scenes. And I know it is right to do this, that this is a necessary evil to build a good book, but it is hard. It is hard to say goodbye to the status quo even though I know change is best. It is hard to part with bits of self and story I've worked to collect, to curate, to create.

But isn't giving up things, subtracting, central to life and to love? Isn't it something we must do again and again? Does it ever get easier? Do we want it to?

Are you good at throwing things away, actual or existential? Why do you think it is so hard to let go?