The other morning, I was going through my kindergarten through eighth grade report cards that my mother had lovingly saved through the years. The A’s (and a few A pluses) and comments affirmed my identity as a perfect student, an overachiever and well-liked by all the teachers.

As I sat there, I wondered what I should do. Do I need to save these reminders? If I recycle them, will I suddenly not be all those things? More importantly, do I need to be those things anymore?

At the very beginning of this journey, I said the goal wasn’t to find myself, it was to free myself.

Yes, we are blessed with an abundance of freedom: We can go where we want, worship what we want, eat what we want, say what we want, live where we want, love who we want, dress how we want, and so on.

But at the same time, we build our own confines out of clutter (physical and mental), fear, and limiting thought patterns and behaviors. Think about it:

• If you’re attached to a bad memory, you’re not free
• If you’re re-living a 20-year-old grudge, you’re not free
• If you’re pre-living an imagined failure, you’re not free
• If you can’t get rid of your fourth-grade report card, thesis or business cards from three jobs ago, you’re not free
• If you can’t donate or throw away the clothes you might fit into someday (let’s be honest, here), you’re not free

Letting go is so unfamiliar to us because we’re accustomed to being in control. But let go we must if we want to be free.

What are you hanging onto? What can’t you part with?