Letting Go & Fig Spread

Hello beautiful friend!

I stared at the jar of fig spread sitting on the shelf inside the refrigerator door. It had one of those round fabric decorative tops with a cord tied around it and I had been looking at it daily for… well, I really have no idea how long. I was trying to remember where it had come from. I’m certain I didn’t buy it and it likely arrived with a guest to one of last summer’s cookouts to be part of some delicious side dish that never made it out to the table. So, as I was doing my weekly fridge purge I looked at this jar, as I do every week, and tried to decide if I should throw it out or keep it. It’s a beautiful jar and it seems like such a waste to toss it out… but when will I ever use fig spread? Well… you never know, someday I might need it.

This seems to be a process we repeat in our lives… trying to determine if something we have still has purpose, and if it doesn’t right now, will it at some point down the road. I just went through this debate last week as I packed up my winter sweaters and pulled out my summer clothes. Holding up sun dresses I hadn’t worn in years, I wondered if this would be the year I felt good wearing it. Sometimes it’s the feeling they once provided, or how I felt about my body that pulls me to hang on just a bit longer. Maybe I will look like that again, or maybe I will feel that same joy, freedom, excitement, beauty that I once had while wearing it. It’s hard to get rid of things that hold the memory of a time I long to return to.

And yet… It’s equally hard to welcome new wonder and joy when I am gripping so tightly to something that no longer exists and has rightfully passed. Letting go of what is no longer is such an act of radical defiance. It’s the declaration that you won’t stay stuck, that you will bravely release what is ready to go and welcome what is meant to come… but DANG is that hard to do!

I have, like many of you, approached decluttering and organizing before. I have gone through closets, drawers, and cabinets holding things up and asking if it brings me joy. The idea is that if the answer isn’t a convincing, “YES”, then it’s time to thank it, and let it go. Where I get stuck is the idea that it MIGHT bring me joy. I imagine that fig spread atop baked brie on a gorgeous charcuterie board while my beloved people laugh in delight as we gather together in community. If I get rid of the fig spread, I may miss this beautiful chance to connect with the people I love and that feels awful. Getting rid of it feels like an act of disconnection and it feels too wasteful and painful to do. It’s more than decluttering, it’s choosing to live differently. It’s choosing the joy of right now over delaying it for something that might come later.

What if letting go of that tangible unused thing actually opens up opportunities for feelings of connection and joy I have been longing for? I don’t even like fig spread… so there is pretty much no chance I will ever use it. It takes up space and reminds me I am stuck. I need to let it go to create space for what is ready to move into that space. And… I am thrilled to say, I did! And you know what happened? My daughter sent me a text later in the day with a recipe that looked incredible and called for pesto, which I didn’t have. I picked some up at the store later in the day and while putting away the groceries, found that the pesto jar fit PERFECTLY in the place the fig spread had been inhabiting. Perfectly. Last night we had the most wonderful dinner with the new recipe and the pesto I had just bought. I believe in the serendipity of this…it was meant to be.

So, my brave friend, your Mindful Mini invitation is to release the grip you have on things that no longer belong, things that no longer bring joy in this moment and let go of the thought that you might need them later. Odds are you won’t need that exact thing, but rather how that thing made you feel… and what will replace it will be a far better fit than what you were holding on to. Make room for the things that are waiting to bring you joy in this moment. Let go of the fear and scarcity that has you believing that it is wasteful to move on, that you have to keep and recycle parts of you that you have outgrown. Release what is ready to go. I cannot tell you how amazing it was to open the refrigerator this morning and NOT see that fig spread reminding me how stuck I was. I literally laughed at how liberating it felt!! Let go and move into what is waiting for you… you are SOO WORTH IT