Let’s fast forward to… is it over now?
5 MORE Things to Ditch When You’ve Finally Ditched Your Ex
We are officially just hours away from my favorite sale at Walgreens.
The “take 80% off this red cellophane wrapped box of chocolate covered fruit and caramel creams” sale.
If, while you are partaking in the annual eating of the chocolates, you look around and realize that you still have stuff from your ex taking up valuable space in your home …
(and also maybe just a little bit in your heart)
…this is for you.
Last year we did 20 things to ditch when it’s time to ditch your ex. This year is the sequel nobody asked for but everybody needs:
5 MORE things to ditch when you’ve finally ditched your ex.
🧡 The Manuscript. Of the entire sordid affair
I’m not opposed to keeping that one last letter from your lover. An artifact, if you will. But there’s no need to have the entire collection sitting on the shelf, whispering “If one thing had been different, would everything be different ….”
Maybe this thing was a masterpiece, but you’ve torn it all up.
And you’ll never get out of the woods if you keep walking into the forest.
🧡 The thing you bought to become “their” person
The tennis racket. The hiking boots. The fancy French press. The thing you acquired because you thought it would make you more … couple-ey? ….compatible? … lovable?
You are not required to keep evidence of how hard you tried.
If you genuinely love it and are fully embracing the “new you” who plays tennis, then keep the racket. If not, you’ve got wilder dreams to pursue.
🧡 The things you aren’t doing anymore.
The work event you won’t attend because you might run into them. The Hulu series you feel bad finishing without them. The restaurant you refuse to go to because it’s “ours.”
I get that old habits die screaming, but that restaurant is not “ours.” It’s a building.
Go eat the pasta.
🧡 The “I’ll return it someday” box.
The box of their stuff you’ve been storing because you’re a good person and you’ll absolutely give it back when the vibes are right.
Honey. The vibes will never be right. Everything has changed and you cannot linger in purgatory.
Ship it. Porch drop it. Or set a date for pickup (if you dare).
And if nobody comes to pick it up? So Long, London. Take that stuff straight to the curb.
🧡 The gift you’re keeping because “it cost a lot.”
Listen, this is the one nobody talks about because it sounds ungrateful and we are not the kind of women who turn our back on anything that makes us look like we have a driver and a secret skincare routine.
But.
When something becomes a time machine that has you waltzing back into rekindled flames or feeling like an old cardigan under someone’s bed, it has to go.
“It was expensive” is not a reason to keep wearing sadness.
You’re allowed to let something go even if it’s beautiful.
You’re allowed to let something go even if someone else (including Past You) would be thrilled to have it.
You’re allowed to let something go even if Past You would’ve screamed, “ARE YOU INSANE???”
Sell it. Consign it. Gift it to someone who will wear it and feel nothing but fabulous.
Turn it into rent money. Turn it into a weekend away. Turn it into literally anything that belongs to your life now.
Because the goal is not to keep things that make you feel like crap. The goal is to get rid of crap that doesn’t make you feel like your “I Can Still Make The Whole Place Shimmer” self.
You don’t have to burn all the files and desert all your past lives.
But, there are things that you’ve been holding onto for just the right amount of long enough.
And it’s time to let them go.
Because this new life you want to be living would like some blank space to begin again.
Your friend who 100% wants a driveway with a basketball hoop,
Vivian
PS. If your Valentine’s Day plans include making intense eye contact with a heart-shaped box? Same. Happy Valentine’s Day.
If you’re a smart, capable, professional woman whose stuff is making her home feel out of control, I can help you figure out:
✅ what to let go of,
✅ what to keep,
✅ and then … where it’s all gonna go (in a way that makes it eeeaasy)
That’s what I do best.
Guide you through the part most people skip because it doesn’t photograph well. The part we officially call “The Messy Middle.” With all the overwhelm. And the big and small and gray-area decisions. The “it looks worse before it looks better” phase. The part that contains the moment you usually quit.
☎️ I’ve opened a few “Coffee Chat” calls on my calendar in February. If you’d like to have a quick chat about what’s going on in your home and how you can get some relief, you can grab 30 minutes with me (at no charge).