Let It Go: My Extraordinary Story - From Refugee to Entrepreneur to Philanthropist

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When you downsize well, you will emerge lighter and liberated. You will be surrounded only by items that bring you joy and pleasure. You're able to make the most of your new opportunities.

Those boxes held the last few treasures that were important to my mother, Kath, at the very end of her exceptional life. Growing up in a poor farming family, she didn't complete the 8th grade. Instead, she left home at 14 and traveled hundreds of miles across Australia to train as a nurse. A few years later, caring for wounded soldiers would be her contribution during World War II. As I write this, my husband and I are contemplating moving to a smaller home in another city, which will require us to let some of our possessions go. I've also reached an age (I'll keep the specific number to myself, thanks) that allows me to see that the busiest phase of my working life will someday come to an end. It's not anytime soon . . . but it's not the hypothetical scenario it was when I was 30. But with these challenges comes a great opportunity to start anew—if you'll just let yourself do it.I thought the method sounded excessively elaborate and emotional--but probably helpful to many people. I am definitely not saying Peter is wrong; he's spent years helping emotional people/hoarders & their stuff! Fortunately, Peter doesn't go crazy with tons of psychological test questions in this book; I remember seeing 4 or 5 short, easily-graded ones. He also has an entire chapter about how to manage the situation when you and your siblings have to go through a parent's estate, and some ways to reduce the stress and conflict involved in that. The two carboard boxes that my sister and I held outside the nursing home didn't really hold the sum of our mother's life. A box can't hold *yours* either, even a box the size of your home. This book was a kind of “default choice” because of the fact that the audio version was available when I needed another book. It focuses mostly on downsizing, or cleaning out a loved one’s home. It was interesting with many good tips on dealing with the clutter, deciding what to keep, and how to get rid of the rest. There was also a lengthy section on working peacefully with family members involved in the process with you. As long as they fit on your table, your job is to come up with whatever treasures best represent the life you’ve lived.

Billed as The inspiring biography of a refugee girl who becomes a millionaire, philanthropist and Dame of the British Empire, The Spanish edition of Let it Go was published in 2022.Earlier, when we were downsizing my parents' home, one of the few things I kept was a green glass pie plate she used for making desserts when we were children. Our now-scattered family once gathered around this plate. Our mother's hands held this plate. Her serving spoon left a few scratches on its surface as she fed us and adored us. How much do you have because of laziness? Things that you’ve replaced? Obligation? things you bought on impulse? Imposition — like things that your kids have stored in your basement or preschool items that don’t fit in the storage unit or school? Most homes are filled with items that represent a lifetime's worth of adventures and accomplishments. Some of this stuff is truly necessary. Much isn't.

What sorts of new opportunities do I want to enjoy in the next phase of my life? What challenges might keep me from making the most of this opportunity? How can I modify my home, my possessions, my relationships and my point of view to make the new life I want possible?This kind of downsizing does take work. It also takes time. I understand that you may already feel frazzled and overscheduled, with little desire to take on more challenges. But using this approach can actually make downsizing faster and easier. And it's going to make the next phase of your life so much better. T.D. Jakes, New York Times bestselling author of Reposition Yourself, Making Great Decisions, and more than a dozen other titles, now presents this book on forgiveness, demonstrating once again why he is called “a spiritual genius,” a “master of meeting mankind eye to eye,” and one of America’s best preachers. Or maybe a parent has died or needs to move into a smaller home, and you have to sort through family possessions and decide what to keep. As you'll see in several people's stories later, keeping too much can put your happiness at risk.