I have always had trouble letting go. While I believe that moving forward is one of the best things a person can do for themselves, I struggle with implementing that into my own life. Perhaps this stems from my deep seeded need to at least attempt to make everything work out, or maybe it’s just the fear that shedding the past is too permanent and once it is relinquished, I can never get it back. I’ve realized recently that renouncing my past may not be such a bad thing.

My room is filled with pieces of my past. Portfolios of work from middle school that I haven’t looked at since they were placed on my bookshelf years ago. Gifts given to me by those with whom I’ve lost touch that prove too painful to even look at so I have tucked them away under my bed or in the depths of my closet. Even clothing that I haven’t touched but hold some sentimental value because they were worn on a day that I know was important but can’t even place why anymore. These things don’t just clutter my home but my heart as I try to hold on to my past, physical embodiments of times that are long gone. I have never wanted to let it all go for fear that one day, I will find a use for them. One day, I will need to call upon something that has happened and for whatever reason, I convinced myself that a sweater from my sophomore year of high school, that I couldn’t squeeze into if I cut off an arm, would allow me to do so. This is why my best friend, Maddy Sebastien, and I started our joint Poshmark account.

Poshmark is a website and app that was designed for people to buy and sell used goods. All the user has to do is create a profile and post pictures of whatever it is they are trying to sell, set a price and write a short description of the item. When the item is sold, Poshmark will send the user a prepaid mailing label which makes it incredibly simple for the user to ship the item to the buyer. While this may just seem to be the digitalization of thrift and consignment stores, it has become so much more than that.

Poshmark has become one of the few positive forms of social media that I interact with. Rather than scrolling through a feed where unrealistic beauty and life standards are set, I see people letting go of all of those things they once thought they needed and sharing them with users across the country. So many of us will spend ludicrous amounts of time and hard earned money to try to fit in, to not feel out of place. As the years pass, we are left with these articles of clothing and regret thinking about how those resources could have been used differently. Poshmark gives you that second chance, to use those resources for something that matters and more importantly to let go.

When my parents left me at preschool, I fought them with every ounce of my being. When they dropped me off at college, I begged them to turn the car around, promising I would enroll in a school close to home the second we returned. Clearly I don’t do well with change, with letting go of any type of security. And while I recognize that selling my things online isn’t exactly life changing, it is a step in the right direction. There comes a time in everyone’s life where they are going to need to make a change, let go of what they know and move forward. It is almost impossible to make that step forward if you are constantly looking back, wondering if you are making the right decision. This is why I urge everyone to take those little leaps, the baby step of letting go of the material things around you that serve no purpose but connecting you somehow to a past that is no longer your reality. Because when they day comes to take that giant leap forward, you will not only be ready, but also excited.

This is for anyone interested in joining Poshmark or looking to explore it further.