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How Donating My Clothes Turned Into a Solo Therapy Session

Grief has a way of seeping into everything

Allison Burney
Human Parts
4 min readFeb 4, 2025

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Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash

The power of decluttering is far greater than meets the eye.

I gained my life back.

That might be a bold statement, but I truly feel that way.

Going through my belongings every so often and doing a thorough sweep of my space is an incredibly freeing experience. (And something I don’t do enough, I must admit.)

Not only do I gain physical space by removing items I no longer use or wear, but I also gain mental space back that I didn’t even know was being taken up by all that stuff!

I’ve never been the type to have a massive closet full of clothes or an entire shoe collection, but I was still surprised by how many things I’d been holding onto for years that I’d completely forgotten about!

I can’t remember the last time I went through my closets, and today, it was obvious.

It was like taking a trip through all of the lives I’ve lived and all of the people I’ve been.

As I tried on each item of clothing, I was transported back in time to the memories surrounding that particular period in my life—high school, university, teaching English in South Korea, backpacking through…

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Allison Burney
Allison Burney

Written by Allison Burney

Writer, ghostwriter & proofreader. On a mission to keep exploring, learning & enjoying this adventure we call life. Work with me: allisonburney.com

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