There’s a hidden power residing beneath the ‘delete’, ‘unfollow’ and ‘unfriend’ buttons and we all need to use them more.

Recently I’ve discovered how invigorating deleting people from life—both in reality and online—is. Not just unfollowing them or unfriending them, but deleting digital remnants of them. I’ve stubbornly refused to delete text messages, contacts, and photos because I was afraid of letting go. But guess what? After clicking on the tiny digital garbage can, and sliding right until the red “delete” button appeared, I felt a sense of freedom.

Relief.

Why was I keeping an archive of texts sent months ago? Why was I continuously looking at pictures of people no longer in my life? Why did I remain friends with people on social media when their posts reached through the screen and punched me in the heart? Why, why, why?

Because I didn’t realize how simple the words delete and erase were.

The memories will forever reside in the fissures of my mind—sometimes electrocuting me—but I realized I didn’t need to be reminded of it every time I’m on my phone or computer.

I wiped my hands free of water before touching the live wire. I will not be burned.

So I unfollowed and unfriended the people who never needed me in their life: those who never mattered, those who I thought mattered but never did, and those who were nothing but toxic fumes. Now I never see their names on Facebook or Twitter. I don’t have to see their pictures and suppress my eyes from rolling out of their sockets. I no longer have to see their smiles, taunting me that I’m not the reason behind it.

I’ve deleted the numbers of old flames that burned out before it could ignite, I’ve deleted texts from people making promises they’ve never kept, and I’ve deleted the photos from a past I was never present in.

The point is, there’s a delete button for a reason. No one forces us to remain friends with people online we don’t talk to anymore. No one makes us keep messages with words said months ago.

If you want to let go—truly let go—of the past, delete the digital memories because it’s the only power we can possess when it comes to moving on and forgetting.