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

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It was ok. If I hadn't previously read other similar books on decluttering/organizing/hoarding/etc, I might have given this one 3 to 3+ stars. The most interesting parts were the few personal stories of some folks Peter has helped. Full disclosure: I have not read this book, but my mother has and it has SAVED what would have been a disastrous move. After almost 30 years in the same house, my parents are moving across country and Peter Walsh is the reason I still have my sanity. He has some helpful things in there & some exercises to do/think about that will help you define what legacy you want to leave. Even though this is a short book, I think it could have been written, organized, & presented in a better, cleaner, more streamlined format. He mainly focuses on defining your treasures (things that are truly valued by you & that show your values to those who will be dealing with your stuff after you die) & defining your worthy items (daily or needed items such as clothing, dishes, etc.). He, naturally, also emphasizes (as he does in every book or tv program he's on) that you have a finite amount of space & you can't physically fit more stuff into a set amount of space.

I personally know what it is like to have a child that faces exceptional challenges and that is why I wanted to publish this inspiring story. Hopefully we can reach at least one person and change their life for the better.” Rest assured that you won't simply wipe your slate clean of all your treasured possessions and walk away empty-handed. That's not the Let It Go way. If you simply jettison your possessions without confronting the deeper issues attached to the objects, you'll still have all your old traumas, and all your sadness and anxiety and guilt. You'll still have unresolved family conflicts and disappointments. All these invisible burdens will come with you. They'll hamper you from enjoying the next stage of your life (and you'll just buy new stuff to conceal them). I like Peter Walsh, I've read at least one of his other books (maybe more than one), have flipped through at least one or two more, & I used to like his tv show on HGTV that was on eons ago.Eh, overall ok. I would have liked a better design & layout, along w/ better editing to really emphasize his core points. Sadly, I think his message is diluted because it gets lost among the other more filler-like stuff. You never have too little space. If you ever feel this way, the problem is actually that you have too much stuff.” It starts with this central idea: As you look around the rooms filled with the stuff you have to process, the hurt or confusion you feel about getting rid of some of it is not about the stuff. You're only seeing the surface level. You have to dig deeper. Way down, underneath all this clutter, is where you confront the idea that:

I love that Peter advocates downsizing your own possessions while you still have the capacity to do so. As he stated in the book, that is really gift to your survivors. I have already had to participate in cleaning and distributing one relative's household. It was a stressful and draining process. I wish that I had read this book prior to that process. Peter lays out how to navigate the personalities that can be involved.As long as they fit on your table, your job is to come up with whatever treasures best represent the life you’ve lived. Sometimes our attachments to our stuff become overwhelming and paralyzing. In my experience, when you get to this point, your ability to make decisions becomes impaired. Focused action becomes nearly impossible. I finally found the words to respond to Julie's question. "Mum's life was not about the stuff," I said. What made her life shine had nothing to do with any of the objects she owned. Whether she held on to it for a minute or 90 years, her stuff was ultimately finite and temporary. The Let It Go way of downsizing makes the process logical, manageable, and as swift as possible. This method provides solutions to the pressure and turmoil you may feel when you trim down your belongings or your loved ones'.

Downsizing can require you to shrink a houseful of possessions so they'll fit into a new space that may be much smaller than what you have now. Many of these possessions are things you really, really like. They're probably things you couldn't possibly live without! To make the mission even more challenging, you're likely working on an uncomfortably tight deadline. What are the best greatest and most in your life will continue to inspire And comfort you after you downsize Enter Peter Walsh with a plan. Peter Walsh always has a plan. This time he looks directly at all the baby boomers and tells us "It's time". It's time to clean out the closets, the basement, and all those boxes that you haven't looked through in years (maybe decades). It's time to do this so that you can move into that house that doesn't take all your time and resources to do the maintenance and upkeep. It's time to do this to move into a retirement community if that's your preference. It's time to do this so that your kids won't have to do it. And for those kids whose parents didn't clear out the home, he has a plan for you, too, to deal with what was left behind.What are the most important roles in life that identify who I am? which three possessions help me create that impression? what possessions are linked rolls that are no longer important to me? after I’m gone, I want my children and grandchildren to remember me for these characteristics, things I did, or experiences I had. Which three possessions will help me leave these memories? What possessions that I only create an impression that I don’t want to leave? 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. 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. When you downsize for these changes, you're likely to confront some of life's deepest questions. That's one reason why the process is so often painful. Downsizing requires us to confront our insecurities, our relationships, and our own mortality. The stuff you sift through has the power to evoke deep emotions and memories, which can easily derail you. I know why so many people think downsizing is scary. But I can promise you that if you do it correctly, the process won't live up to the disruptive, divisive, and stressful reputation it's gotten.